UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Abstract: At 11:30 a.m. on June 17, 2022, an employee was working on repairing a vehicle a t a junkyard. The employee was one of multiple independent self-employed contrac tors who subleased space at the junkyard as tenants to store and repair automobi les purchased at auction prior to transporting them for resale in Mexico. The em ployee was in a verbal contract with another independent contractor, a coworker, to sublease a portion of the employee's workspace to also independently repair vehicles at the junkyard. The employee was working alone under a Chevrolet Impa la with the front end elevated by two jack stands and both front tires removed, when the vehicle fell from the jack stands. The coworker returned from an offsit e meeting and discovered the employee pinned under the vehicle. The coworker ca lled out to the junkyard's other tenants for help, who called 9-1-1 and used a p ortable jack to pull the employee out from under the car. First responders from the San Diego Fire Department attempted life saving measures but declared the e mployee dead at the scene. The employee was killed by traumatic asphyxia and cr ushing injuries to the upper chest.