Inspection Detail

Inspection: 103554796 - John Hennes Trucking Co.

Inspection Information - Office: Milwaukee Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 9:00 a.m. on July 20, 1988, Employee #1 was helping to remove a 9 ft by 12 ft house from a platform atop a salvage yard guillotine shear. The house originally rested on the platform and attached angle iron brackets. Employee #1 and a millwright were inside the house loosening platform floor plates when a third contractor employee arrived. The third employee, who knew the house was welded down to the platform in two places, cut through one of the 3 in. wide attachment bars. He then went inside the house and cut through the second and last attachment bar. Because one of the support brackets had been unintentionally broken off without anyone's knowledge, the entire house began tipping in the direction of the missing bracket. Employee #1, who was against the rear wall, was crushed to death between that wall and a hydraulic line rigidly attached to the platform. A crane was in position to remove the house, but was not yet attached. The contractor who cut the welds had installed the house, and thought it would still be self-supporting, because those welds were originally only a precaution against vibration and/or wind movement.

Keywords: WALL, UNSECURED, CONSTRUCTION, HYDRAULIC LINE, CAUGHT BETWEEN, CRUSHED