Inspection Detail

Inspection: 116008269 - Rite-Way Milk, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Omaha Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 7:45 a.m. on December 7, 1997, Employee #1, a tanker driver for Rite-Way Milk, Inc., was bringing milk to Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. in Dodge, NE. It was the first time he had delivered to this location. He backed in his truck and waited while the milk receiver took samples of the milk, unloaded the tanker, and began to clean the tank. Employee #1 asked if there was anything he could do to assist in the process. The milk receiver informed him that the tanker was almost cleaned out and then went to another area of the receiving bay. When he returned, the milk receiver saw Employee #1 lying on the floor near the tanker ladder, unconscious but breathing. He went for help and the volunteer rescue squad was called. Emergency services transported Employee #1 to a nearby hospital; he was later transferred by helicopter to a hospital in Omaha hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:28 p.m. Based on interviews with the milk receiver and coworkers, Employee #1 appears to have fallen from the tanker. He was found lying on his side, aligned with the tanker and near the ladder. The receiver had left the tanker with the spray ball (used for washing the inside of the tanker) hooked up on top of the tanker. After the ambulance had taken Employee #1 to the hospital, he noticed that the spray ball and wash line had been disconnected from the tanker and put back in the setup attached to the ceiling. The milk receiver and a driver from another company both noted that the plug on the tanker, that covered the hole to which that the wash line was attached, was lying on the floor near where Employee #1 had fallen.

Keywords: DELIVERY WORK, TANK TRUCK, WORK RULES, CLEANING, TANK CLEANING, FIXED LADDER, FALL, FALL PROTECTION, WORK SURFACE, TRUCK DRIVER