Inspection Detail

Inspection: 120129143 - Eos Construction

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At about 3:55 p.m. on April 23, 1994, three employees for the company were compacting dirt lifts using a vibrating self-propelled roller and a hand operated, motor driven compactor (wacker packer). The Case Model for the roller was 752B. A wacker packer was used to close structures where the roller was unable to compact. Employee #1, the dump truck operator, decided to help the operator of the wacker packer, Employee #2, steady the unit since the motor on the top made it too heavy and the soil around the structures was soft. He made no effort to notify the roller operator of his entrance into the area. However, the roller operator did observe him sometime prior to the accident. Employee #3 steadied the unit by pushing on it from a position of 90 degrees from the operator. Meanwhile, the roller continued to operate nearby. The roller's back-up alarm was reportedly operating. At one point, the wacker packer started to tip in the direction of the roller. Employee #1 extended his right foot back to steady himself while pushing against the wacker packer. Suddenly, Employee #1 felt the rack roll off the case pinning his heel against the ground. Since he was not able to free his foot, he threw himself forward so that his leg was flat while the roller drove over his foot and lower half of his calf. After the roller had rolled past his foot, he squirmed forward to avoid the front roll. He was wearing steel toed work boots. His foot was fractured. Employee #3 stated that he was looking in the direction of two people working the wacker packer; however, he did not see Employee # 1 put his foot back into the roller's path. Both the roller operator and the wacker packer operator stated that they did not know the accident had happened until Employee # 1 had hopped away from the area.

Keywords: FRACTURE, ROLLER--CONST EQUIP, FOOT