Abstract: At 6:30 a.m. on March 6, 2001, Employee #1 was driving Forklift #11 in the blending area. Davis Colors is a pigment manufacturer which does mixing and blending operations. Employee #1 was a laborer who had been working for the company for 12 years. Forklift #11 was manufactured by Yale in 1979. Its model number was GC040AAJUAT077 and its serial number was P314375. Employee #1 was going to put wooden pallets on top of the Chaser blender platform but there was a bag of materials on the platform from the previous shift. The Chaser blender platform was a metal platform which was 47 inches above the floor. Employee #1 stopped the forklift about 2.5 feet away from the blender platform and put the forklift in neutral position. Then he stepped off and walked in front of the forklift with its forks raised to remove the bag of materials from the blender platform. The forks were elevated approximately 2 feet from the floor and it was loaded with two wooden pallets. Each wooden pallet was 40.5 inches by 48 inches by 4 inches thick. Employee #1 was about to move the bags when the forklift moved forward and the pallets on the forklift hit him in the back where his back support belt was. Employee #1 was caught between the wooden pallets and the blender platform and he screamed for help. One of his coworkers came over and drove the forklift away from him. It was determined that the accident was caused because Employee #1 failed to put on the brake before stepping away from the forklift. Employee #1 was transported to Los Angeles County USC Medical Center by the paramedics and then he was transferred to Kaiser Permanente where he was hospitalized for two days. He was diagnosed with a lumbarsacral strain and abdominal contusions.