Inspection Detail

Inspection: 120265673 - Nina'S Mexican Food

Inspection Information - Office: Monrovia District Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1 had been employed since March 1993 as a delivery truck driver for Nina's Mexican Food Products, a small company that has 30 employees and manufactures flour tortillas. On January 17, 1994, he came late to work due to the big earthquake. He had missed the first delivery but was in time for the loading of the second delivery. The production manager had performed the first delivery of the day using a 1985 Ford truck model F-600. The truck was backed all the way up against a loading dock. The wheels were not chocked or blocked and it was parked on a downgrade. A coworker who had helped Employee #1 load and then left him alone to continue his work saw him standing bent over in the back of the truck by the tailgate, pushing the activated buttons for the hydraulic tailgate. The coworker, who had gone inside, heard a crushing sound coming from the loading dock area. He ran outside and found the truck against the dock with the tailgate raised. He found Employee #1 lying face down with blood around him. Help was sought. It appeared that when the tailgate was raised, the truck rolled back, forcing the tailgate to close and crushing the head of Employee #1 between the truck box frame and the tailgate. Employee #1 died. The employer had no effective injury and illness prevention program; there was no record of training for the driver. In addition, the delivery truck wheels were not blocked/chocked. The delivery truck in service was not maintained as the manufacturer recommended in the Level-Lift Tailgate Loader operating instructions. Citations were issued for serious violations of T8CCR 3203(a) and 3328(b).

Keywords: CHOCK, HEAD, WORK RULES, CRUSHED, TRUCK, LOADING DOCK, SLOPE, TRUCK DRIVER