Inspection Detail

Inspection: 119786374 - La County Public Works

Inspection Information - Office: Van Nuys District Office

Investigation Summary

On May 23, 2005, Employee #1 and a coworker were standing behind a 10-wheel dump truck. Two dump trucks had just laid down some blacktop material on a 75- to100-ft patch of road repair work along a curved highway. There were a total of six crew members performing the work. The permanent supervisor was not present on this day and as part of normal protocol, the heavy equipment operator assumed the duty as the temporary supervisor. The temporary supervisor instructed the drivers of the two dump trucks to move their vehicles to the side of the road to allow him to patch the section of road by leveling the mounds of blacktop to grade with his skip loader. The heavy equipment operator then started the skip loader and drove it to the beginning of the patch. He put the loader in reverse and lowered his bucket and started moving backwards. Unknown to heavy equipment operator, one of the drivers of the 10-wheel dump trucks could not close the tailgate due to accumulation of blacktop material. The dump truck driver and Employee #1 grabbed shovels and removed the blacktop around the tailgate. While cleaning out the tailgate, the heavy equipment operator continued to back-up. Although the back-up alarm was in use and was audible, only the dump truck operator heard it from approximately 18 inches away. The dump truck operator attempted to warn Employee #1, but was unsuccessful. Employee #1 was crushed between the back of the loader and the dump truck, and was killed. The accident investigation revealed that the loader had two fully intact rearview mirrors inside the cab and he had full visibility. During an interview with the heavy equipment operator, he stated that he never looked in the rear-view mirrors because he had told the truck drivers to move.

Keywords: BACK-UP ALARM, HIGHWAY, ASPHYXIATED, EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, CONSTRUCTION, CAUGHT BETWEEN, CRUSHED, MANUAL MAT HANDLING, INATTENTION