UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Inspection Detail

Inspection: 125946657 - Triple A Containers

Inspection Information - Office: Ca Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

On Saturday, December 9, 2006, Employee #1 was working as a machine operator at a plant at which different types of cardboard boxes were manufactured. He was a regular employee of the employer. Such manufacturing requires several special purpose machines. Employee #1 was near the Langston Titan corrugated box making machine, even though the machine was not involved in the accident. On the southeast side of the machine there is an open pit thirty-eight feet wide by thirty-eight feet long and three-and-a-half feet deep. A sump pump is located there to pump out the accumulated water in the pit from the machine. On the day of the accident, the maintenance supervisor intended to work in the pit in order to install the pump and piping. He asked Employee #1 to come to work and give him a helping hand. Consequently, Employee #1 was in the workplace on the day of the accident. Just before the accident, he was cleaning and sweeping the floor. The maintenance supervisor was operating a pipe threading machine on the east side of the sump pump pit. The machine had a long pipe loaded on the machine that extended on both sides of the machine. On the north side of the pit there was a scissor lift parked. There was not enough room to use the walkway on the north side of the pit, because of the scissor lift and the extended pipe from the pipe threading machine. The pit was open, and it was not guarded by a cover or guardrail At one stage, as Employee #1 was cleaning the floor, the maintenance supervisor called Employee #1 to come and help him on the east side of the pipe threading machine. For Employee #1 to go to the east side of the pipe threading machine, there were two options. One way was to go around the long pipe extending south from the pipe threading machine, which was a long route. The other way was to go past the uncovered pit and the scissor lift on the north, despite the obstructions, and then turn around the short extended pipe from the pipe threading machine. The second route would be shorter, and Employee #1 chose to go that way. As Employee #1 jumped over the open pit to negotiate it, he fell inside. The pump was already inside the pit, and the steel grate (pit cover) was projecting over the open pit by a few inches. As Employee #1 fell on the pit and pump, his left leg hit the extended grate. As a result, he sustained an injury to a tendon with laceration, an injury to his left knee, and a contusion to one of his right ribs. Employee #1 was hospitalized at the Downey Regional Medical Center for two-and-a-half days.

Keywords:knee, tendon, guardrail, unguarded fl opening, machine operator, laceration, pit, rib, fall, pump