Inspection Detail

Inspection: 125884676 - Horizon Hobby Inc

Inspection Information - Office: San Bernardino District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 11:35 p.m. on Friday, March 19, 2004, Employee #1, the second shift supervisor of the Horizon Hobby, Inc., was closing the gate at the end of the day. The piggyback-type manual metal gate consisted of two rolling sections (south and north), each section, with dimensions of 7 feet, 9 inches in height by 14 feet, 5 inches wide. The employer is primarily a shipping and distributing warehouse facility for the radio control cars, boats, planes, helicopters; model railroad; plastic and the other general hobby products. The weight of each section of the gate was approximately 400 to 500 lbs. A rectangular catcher located at the rear bottom side of the north section engages another catcher located at the front bottom side of the south section to facilitate pulling of the south section when the north section is pulled manually forward up to halfway. The rear wheel of the south section was off the track prior to its pulling. To close the gate manually, Employee #1 pulled the north section forward up to halfway while being on its south side. At that time, the north section could not pull the south section because the catchers became disengaged, causing the north section to be free from the top rollers. The gate fell, pinning Employee #1 underneath. The employee died of his injuries.

Keywords: ASPHYXIATED, WAREHOUSE, PINNED, WORK STATION, EQUIPMENT FAILURE, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, MECH MALFUNCTION