Inspection Detail

Inspection: 126076439 - A-1 Welding Ornamental & Ironworks

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 9:00 a.m. on January 7, 2000, Employee #1, a construction worker, died from a concussion after being hit in the face area by a falling load of steel beams. He was working at a warehouse construction site, which was located in Commerce, California. This incident was reported to the Division by the sheriff department at approximately 10:00 a.m. and reported again by the local fire department at approximately 2:10 p.m. The District Manager of the jurisdiction assigned the case to a compliance officer. The compliance officer responded to the site at approximately 10:30 a.m. on January 7, 2000, and commenced an investigation. The investigation revealed that Employee #1 suffered a concussion when a load of two structural columns each weighing approximately 900 pounds fell off a home-built rack on the company truck and hit Employee #1 on his left face area, knocking him to the ground. Employee #1 was unconscious with massive head and neck injuries. At 9:37 a.m., he was transported to Santa Martha Hospital by the paramedics of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He was pronounced dead by the attending doctor at 9:50 a.m. His employer is in the iron works business. They manufacture and install various automatic gates, fences, window guards, and folding gate roll-up doors. His employer was hired by the general contractor CEG Construction to furnish and install angle irons and six roof columns for an industrial warehouse covering an approximately 24,000 square foot area. After interviewing his employer and witnesses as well as reviewing the documents and inspecting the actual incident site, it was determined that the fatal incident was caused from a lack of properly securing the heavy metal columns to the frame of the truck. The columns were not effectively secured because they were not tied with the proper rope, they were improperly secured on the dunnage with cribbing, and they were not set up with blocks to prevent the round pipe columns from rolling off the truck when untied.

Keywords: BEAM, TRUCK, FALL, STRUCK BY, CONCUSSION