UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Inspection Detail

Inspection: 119820157 - Commerial Paving & Coating

Inspection Information - Office: Ca Monrovia District Office

Investigation Summary

At 3:15 p.m. on June 4, 2002, a serious occupational injury occurred at a construction site in Arcadia, California. Employee #1 and four coworkers were employees of a commercial paving and coating company. The injury occurred during the paving of the parking lot at the above location. This was a multi-employer project. The general contractor, Hale Corporation is an owner builder with an on-site superintendent. A dump truck driver in his Kenworth Model W-925, Serial Number 120443, 15-ton dump truck, license number 4T34243, was at the staging area about 300 feet west of were the incident occurred. The driver received a signal to back his truck up to the paving machine which was about 300 feet east and began backing up. Just before the driver began backing up, Employee #1 and a coworker began walking toward the paving machine from the southwest corner of the north building. They began walking next to the curb. When they got to the double doors, the coworker looked back and saw the truck had started to back up. At this point Employee #1 and the coworker began to angle across to the south side of the parking lot. The coworker was to the left or north and slightly in front of Employee #1. The coworker looked back and saw the truck was almost on top of them and yelled just as the truck struck Employee #1. Employee #1 hit the coworker in the chest and knocked the coworker down as Employee #1 was falling. The coworker said he tried to pull Employee #1 away from the truck's rear wheels but could not do so. Another worker was moving the paving machine toward the driveway at the east side of the parking lot when he looked up and saw Employee #1 under the rear wheels of the asphalt truck driven. The second worker said that after the truck knocked Employee #1 down, it continued backing up and the rear wheels went up the legs of Employee #1. They screamed at the driver, and the driver stopped and then pulled forward. Employee #1 and the coworker said they did not hear the asphalt truck back-up alarm. The dump truck did not have an automatic back-up alarm, but did have an audible back-up alarm that required manual activation. Another truck driver said he heard the alarm when the driver left the staging area heading for the paving machine. The noise from the rolling machine and the paving machine might have prevented employees from hearing the back-up alarm. On June 3, 2002, another asphalt truck that was backing up had come close to hitting Employee #1. The same day the injury occurred, the dump truck driver was stopped as he was about to back over an electrical vault. Employee #1 said he had about 13 years experience in this type of work and had worked for this employer for 5 months prior to the incident. Employee #1 and a coworker said that on some jobs spotters were provided but not on this job. Employee #1 spent at least 20 days in the hospital due to the injuries he received, crushed left and right femurs and a crushed left index finger and thumb.

Keywords:back-up alarm, fracture, finger, dump truck, run over, asphalt, leg