Inspection Detail

Inspection: 107699860 - Riverside Contractors Of Wny, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Buffalo Area Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1 was crushed when brick walls fell on him. Demolition activities of a two story brick building and two-and-a-half-story elevator shafts began on July 10, 1998. On the morning of July 12, 1998, the north wall of the building and the elevator shaft was demolished. The north wall was taken down in the morning and the elevator shaft was started at approximately 12:30 p.m. The foreman was operating a Hytachi EX200 excavator with a hammer attached. He began hammering the elevator shaft at the southeast lower corner. Employee #1 was operating a John Deere excavator with a bucket attached. He placed his bucket up against the west wall of the elevator shaft as the foreman hammered at the southeast corner. When the foreman finished hammering, he backed away and signaled to Employee #1 to push the shaft over. As Employee #1 began pushing against the west corner with his bucket, a lintel (which ran east and west along the front of the elevator shaft) gave way and the bricks from the face of the shaft (south side) began to fall. According to witnesses at the site, Employee #1 then drove over to the front of the shaft, reached in with his stick and began hitting the northeast corner of the shaft with his bucket. Bricks began to fall on to the boom, and the walls collapsed bringing down brick, concrete and the elevator mechanicals onto the cab of the excavator. Employee #1 was crushed.

Keywords: WALL, BRICK, CRUSHED, FALL