Inspection Detail

Inspection: 105688683 - Smc Concrete Construction, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Va-E-Manassas (Regional Office)- Safety 0355114

Investigation Summary

At approximately 4:00 p.m. on July 13, 1989, Employee #1 was at a landfill to dump a load of construction debris. His vehicle was a 1985 GMC stake body truck with a dump bed 4 ft 2 in. high. A trash box measuring 15 ft long by 8 ft wide by 5 ft high was on the truck, full of trash. Employee #1 stopped the truck and climbed up on the trash box to remove the tarp (required by state law) covering the load prior to dumping it. He went to the front of the box and began removing the tarp front to back and walking backward toward the rear of the truck bed, pulling the tarp along with him. When he got to the back of the box, he apparently overstepped and fell approximately 9 ft off the back of the truck onto the ground. He was rendered unconscious by the fall and the rescue squad was called. When they arrived, he was conscious and refused to be transported to the hospital. He went home with his brother overnight. The next morning when his brother attempted to wake him, Employee #1 couldn't be roused. He was transported to the hospital, where he remained comatose until his death on July 20, 1989, at approximately 10:30 a.m. Injuries sustained were a skull fracture, fractured ribs, subdural hematoma, contusions, and a laceration of the brain.

Keywords: FRACTURE, UNCONSCIOUSNESS, CONSTRUCTION, LACERATION, SKULL, DUMP TRUCK, FALL, BRAIN, CONTUSION