Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1227761.015 - Slsn Inc Dba Peck Road Gravel

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At 8:00 a.m. on April 25, 2017, a crew of employees was working at the yard of a concrete supplier. The concrete supplier is a concrete plant which had a section of the yard that stockpiles used concrete for recycling. It is at this area of the yard, where used concrete is recycled into stone. The crew consisted of Employee #1, a plant (Horizontal Shaft Impactor) excavator, and Employee #2. Employee #1 and Employee #2 had worked approximately three weeks at the concrete supplier with no supervision or no association with the management. Employee #1 and Employee #2 had a problem with the equipment they were to call the management who would send either a mechanic or field supervisor to the site. Employee #2 broke up the used or excess concrete stored at concrete supplier and loaded the concrete with the use of the excavator onto the impactor's running conveyor belt. Employee #1 with the use of a hand control would remotely run the impactor, so that the impactor would further break up the broken concrete into the required size of rock. Employee #1 operating the impactor ran the load of broken concrete through the impactor and at some time shut the impactor down. After shutting down the impactor, Employee #1 climbed up onto the impactor and unscrewed the locking bolts of the impactor's rear shell door and opened the impactor's rear clam shell door by the impactor's controls. After Employee #1 opened the chamber's rear door, Employee #1 locked and tagged out the operating panel of the impactor. After locking out the operating panel, Employee #1 entered the impactor's chamber to service or un-jam large rocks from the aprons of the impactor. As Employee #1 stood in the chamber of the impactor, the hydraulic line broke away from the impactor's hydraulic main access cylinder allowing hydraulic fluid to spray out of the cylinder and the line resulting in the cylinder to lose fluid pressure and the impactor's rear door to move forward to the chamber's closed position striking Employee #1 in the upper body and head. Employee #2 with a new load of broken concrete returned to the impactor and noticed the impactor was shut down. Employee #2 got off the excavator walked around the impactor and seeing hydraulic fluid sprayed over the side of the impactor looked up and saw Employee #1 inside the chamber of the impactor pinned between the rear door and the frame of the impactor. Employee #2 left the impactor and found an employee of concrete supplier who called 911. The Fire Department arrived on the site, and attended to Employee #1. Employee #1 was pronounced dead. The coroner reported that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the upper body and head.

Keywords: Concrete, Crushed, Crusher, Head