Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1485895.015 - Nan Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Hi-E-Honolulu

Investigation Summary

At 3:00 a.m. on July 7, 2024, Employee #1 and Employee #2, both carpenters, were working for a structural concrete contractor. The employees were midway through the night shift working on a crew with a coworker. The crew was working on the roadway preparing to move a 74-inch by 110-inch by 1.5-inch, 1,200-pound, glass panel that was stacked on a sideways crate along with two other glass panels. The panels were supported by a beam that was placed across the panels at a 45-degree angle. The crew was preparing to use a WPG Manual Rotator Power Tilter suction cup machine to hoist the panel 30 feet up and onto a pedestrian bridge. This crate was the fourth crate that the crew had opened the same shift. The employees had been performing this type of installation for three days. The crew performs the task by attaching a power tilter to a glass panel after attaching the power tilter to a crane. The crew then lifts the power tilter to the pedestrian bridge along with the glass panel. While trying to attach the suction cups, all three glass panels shifted forward. Employee #1 was standing on one side of the glass panels trying to stabilize the panels in the crate when his right leg became caught underneath the stack. The coworker used a forklift to lift the panels while Employee #2, the foreman and WPG remote controller, stood on the other end of the glass panel, helping to stabilize the panel. While trying to stabilize the panel, Employee #2 got his toe stuck under the panel. The employees were rushed to the emergency room. Employee #1 broke his right fibula and was hospitalized for two days. Employee #2 was hospitalized to treat a crushed left toe.

Keywords: Bridge, Building, Carpenter, Caught Between, Construction, Crushed, Crushing, Falling Object, Fibula, Foot, Fracture, Hoist, Hoisting Mechanism, Leg, Material Handling, Panel, Pinch Point, Pinched, Struck By, Suction, Toe, Unsafe Position, Unsecured, Unstable Load