Inspection Detail

Inspection: 111877643 - The Clipper

Inspection Information - Office: Sacramento District Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1 and a coworker were on their first day on the job, distributing advertising flyers for an advertising firm that works for local businesses in Eldorado County. The firm uses students from the local school to do this work every other Saturday. The ads come in bundles of 100 and are broken down into bundles of 50, with any special material inserted inside them. The ads that go out to residents of Placerville are loaded into mail carts and then into a Ryder rental truck, which is parked in a steep driveway. This facilitates loading because when the ramp is down, it is level. The loading into the trailer is normally done with an employee on each cart. After the carts were loaded, the employer told Employee #1 and her coworker, ages 14 and 13 years, respectively, to take them outside. He intended for the girls to just line them up, but Employee #1 and her coworker thought he meant for them to load the carts into the truck. A cart got away from them and went down the steep driveway. with Employee #1 and her coworker still handing on. The 99 lb cart hit the truck ramp, went part way up, and then overturned. pinning Employee #1 to the ground. She sustained injuries that required hospitalization.

Keywords: LOADING, RAMP, PINNED, WORK RULES, STEEP GRADE, INEXPERIENCE, LOST CONTROL, COMMUNICATION, CART, OVERTURN