Inspection Detail

Inspection: 120300793 - 99 Only Stores

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

On July 13, 1998, Employee #1, age 19, was assisting a coworker who was using a forklift and a makeshift 3 ft 4 in. by 4 ft 10 in. by 3 ft bale work platform made of compressed cardboard to clean an awning. The coworker placed the bale on a pallet on the forks, then climbed into it and elevated the forks to begin cleaning. When Employee #1 arrived to help, he stood with the coworker in the bale; one of them scrubbed the surface of the awning, the other hosed it down with water from a hose pipe. At one point, the coworker descended to move the lift truck and elevate the forks while Employee #1 remained in the bale. During this process, the fork truck began to tilt, possibly because the cardboard bale, now water-soaked, was quite heavy. Before Employee #1 could react, the lift truck overturned, the bale came off the forks, and Employee #1 fell 13 ft with the falling pallet. He sustained a back injury, swelling of his left leg, and a bruised kidney. He was transported to Tri-City Medical Center, where he was hospitalized for three days. The causal factors of this accident were (1) allowing an employee to ride on the forks of a forklift, a violation of T8CCR 3664(a)(4); (2) failure to fulfill certain conditions with respect to the platform, etc. necessary when an employee is elevated using an industrial truck, a violation of T8CCR 3657(a); and (3) failure to instruct employees on safe operating procedures before elevating them using an industrial truck, a violation of T8CCR 3657(h).

Keywords: UNSECURED, WORK RULES, CLEANING, RIDING ON EQUIPMENT, INDUSTRIAL TRUCK, FALL, MECH MAT HANDLING, ELEVATED WORK PLAT, UNTRAINED, OVERTURN