Inspection Detail

Inspection: 120082599 - La Curacao

Inspection Information - Office: Van Nuys District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 8:30 a.m. on August 20, 1996, Employee #1 and three coworkers, of La Curacao, Panorama City, CA, had finished loading a sidewalk freight elevator with six pallets and a pallet jack to unload a truck at the street level above. Two of the coworkers went up to the sidewalk while Employee #1 and the third coworker went to the break area. Employee #1, age 19, returned shortly and the coworker returned seconds behind him, as verified by a Los Angeles Police Department viewing of a security camera video tape. Employee #1 was apparently struck on the forehead and at the base of the skull by the vertical bi-parting elevator door as it closed. Paramedics and police were called, and Employee #1 was pronounced dead at the scene. The half-doors were connected by a chain assembly that, when energized from either the top or the bottom of the door system, distributed energy to both parts of the door assembly and caused both to close. The manual elevator was activated by the person operating the door. Investigation revealed that the door assembly's mechanical interlock, a device that prevents the door from being opened when the elevator car is not in the proper position, had been bypassed. It is likely that Employee #1 found the elevator door partly open and, as was the employees' custom, placed his head into the opening between the doors to inquire about progress on the work by shouting up the shaft from the warehouse to the street. At that moment, some external force was applied to the door, closing it on his head.

Keywords: HEAD, WORK RULES, INTERLOCK, LOCKOUT, CRUSHED, STRUCK BY, ELEVATOR