Inspection Detail

Inspection: 120129432 - J E Merit Constructors Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

On May 10, 1995, Employee #1, a pipefitter for J.E. Merit Constructors, Inc., and a crew including a helper and a crane operator were stacking pipe spools in a laydown area of a small metropolitan refinery. At approximately 12:15 p.m., the employees had set and backed the crane off two 80 ft lengths of 4 in. diameter schedule 80 pipe. The slings were completely slack and still attached to the crane hook and the spools. Wood dunnage separated these pipe spools from spools below. Employee #1 had set wood wedges in the middle and at each end of the pipe spools. While Employee #1 was beside the pipe spools, the spools and the supporting dunnage fell about 2 1/2 ft to the ground. The pipe spools struck Employee #1's leg, breaking the fibula and the tibia.

Keywords: FRACTURE, TIBIA, CONSTRUCTION, FALLING OBJECT, REFINERY, FOOT, LEG