Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1393601.015 - Opal-Foods Cooperative Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Iowa 0751910

Investigation Summary

At 7:30 a.m. on April 11, 2019, an employee was working for a firm that produced chicken eggs. He was loading twenty-four pallets of eggs onto a semi-trailer backed up to a loading dock. The dock was estimated to be of "standard" height, some 1.2 to 1.3 meters (48 to 52 inches). The employee was operating a three-wheel electric Yale model number ERP030VTN36TE082 forklift, with serial number G807N08669N. It had a capacity of 1,360 kilograms (3,000 pounds). The forklift was equipped with an operator restraint system and overhead protection. The employee took the paperwork involved to the driver waiting in the truck and told the driver to come in and secure the eggs with load locks. The employee remembered there was a pallet of empty flats that needed go on the trailer. He went back into the trailer with the forklift and a pallet of egg flats. He was backing out of the trailer when the truck's driver suddenly pulled forward. Neither the truck wheels nor the trailer wheels were chocked. There was no vehicle restraint system installed on the dock. There was no method to communicate with the driver other than face-to-face. The forklift began to fall between the trailer and dock. The employee unbuckled his seat belt and jumped from the forklift onto the ground. The forklift landed upright with the employee's shoe caught under it. Emergency responders were called. The fire department responded and used an air bag to lift the forklift off the employee's foot. The foot was uninjured, but the employee suffered three broken ribs and a separated shoulder as a result of falling to the lower level. He was hospitalized for one night.

Keywords: Emergency Response, Fall, Falling Object, Forklift, Fracture, Ind Trk Operator, Industrial Truck, Loading Dock, Overhead Protection, Pallet, Palletized Cargo, Rib, Seat Belt, Shoulder, Trailer Truck, Truck, Truck Driver