Inspection Detail

Inspection: 109180448 - All Habitat Services Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Bridgeport Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 7:30 a.m. on July 16, 2011, Employee #1 called someone, who appeared to be a supervisor and will therefore be referred to as a supervisor. Employee #1 left a message saying that he had come into the maintenance/storage building in Branford to work on a couple things. He also asked about working on the Argo machine. The supervisor called Employee #1 back and spoke to him, at approximately 9:00 a.m. He told Employee #1 to punch into work and change the transmission and engine oils on the Argo machine. The supervisor also discussed the problem with the bearings on the left-side idler shaft. However, the supervisor instructed Employee #1 not to work on it that day but to wait until Monday to begin work on it. The machine apparently fell from the jacks and killed Employee #1. No one directly witnessed the incident that killed Employee #1. Employee #1's wife found him at approximately 2:15 p.m. According to the Branford Police Department's Incident Report, police department representatives returned to the site location and attempted to reconstruct the incident on July 26, 2011. The police department's report noted that the representatives reevaluating the incident were not reconstruction experts. No measurements were taken but a small video clip was taken of the machine on the jacks. The police department's reevaluation of the incident discussed one scenario based on the position of the jacks in the front. If the jacks were not placed properly on one side of the machine, the video indicated that the machine would slide on the front jacks, if they were positioned along the bumper. When the machine slid, it would drop down, just as apparently observed, with Employee #1 trapped underneath. If the jacks were placed on the lateral arms along the frame of the machine, the machine would somewhat teeter but would not fall straight down, if one of the jacks were knocked out. It was believed that when Employee #1 was taking the tracks off the driver's side of the machine, the rear jack on the driver's side, which was positioned under a piece of housing, possibly slipped and did not have a solid grip to hold the machine up. If the jacks in the front were placed along the front bumper, and Employee #1 bumped the jack in the rear, while coming out on the creeper "with the bump-outs near the wheel", the machine would have fallen, exactly as it did, on top of Employee #1.

Keywords: MAINTENANCE, PINNED, STRUCK BY, JACK, UNSTABLE LOAD