Inspection Detail

Inspection: 120278312 - Sukut Construction Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: San Diego District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 12:20 p.m. on July 31, 2000, Employee #1 was acting as a grade checker while a coworker used a motor grader to finish the surface on a roadway under construction at a new housing development. The driver was following the paint markings that outlined the right edge of the cut of the roadway and, as he completed his pass and rounded the corner, he raised his blade approximately 8 in. to 10 in. to prepare for another pass. At this juncture, the coworker saw a water truck traveling downhill on the street he had just graded, and spotted Employee #1 on the opposite side of the street. The driver was backing the grader in second gear, at a speed of between 4 and 5 mph to let the truck pass by safely, when, just as the water truck passed by, he felt that he had rolled over a rock. Looking down in front of his rear tire, he saw Employee #1 lying face down on the ground. The driver stopped immediately, lowered the left side of the blade into the dirt of the street to hold the grader in place, and then shut off the engine. He called to several other coworkers standing off to the left of the roadway and asked them to call the foreman and tell him that he had had an accident. The foreman arrived at the scene and covered Employee #1's body while directing his office to call 911. Local fire department personnel responded and contacted the coroner and Cal/OSHA. The backup alarm on the grader was not working at the time of the accident and the employer was cited accordingly.

Keywords: BACK-UP ALARM, GRADER, SIGNALMAN, WORK RULES, CONSTRUCTION, EARTHMOVING EQUIP, RUN OVER, BACKING UP