Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1444102.015 - Riverside County Sheriff'S Department

Inspection Information - Office: San Bernardino District Office

Investigation Summary

At 7:40 a.m. on October 24, 2019, an employee was working as a truck driver for a detention center operated by a County Sheriff's Department. The detention center has a warehouse where inmates work loading and unloading supplies for the center. Activities include operating hand dollies and hand held pallet jacks and using box trucks to make deliveries to 4 locations run by the department. The employee was standing on the right rear side of the truck engaged performing a pre-trip inspection on his truck. The employee was inspecting the lift gate and stood off to the side, grabbed the handle to pull back the gate and prepared to engage the lift to lower it for testing. The employee pulled back on the handle to lower the gate. Without activating any switches, the employee pulled the gate back towards the ground and the gate never stopped and continued to freefall completely to the ground. The gate struck the employee, caught him and pulled him in towards the gate catching his left foot underneath the gate. The employee's foot was fractured with partially severed tendons and abrasions to his left leg. The employee was transported by ambulance to the hospital, where he was transferred to another hospital and admitted.

Keywords: Abrasion, Box truck, Caught By, Crushed, Defect, Defective, Defective Equipment, Delivery Work, Foot, Fracture, Inspecting, Laceration, Leg, Liftgate, Material Handling, Pulled In, Severed, Tendon, Testing, Truck, Truck Driver, Warehouse