Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1501025.015 - C & S Wholesale Grocers, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Allentown Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 1:00 p.m. on November 4, 2020, an employee was working for a wholesale grocer. It distributed groceries and supplied more than 7,500 independent supermarkets, chain stores, military bases, and institutions. The employee operated a pallet jack in a warehouse or distribution center. A few days earlier, one of his coworkers had placed a partial pallet of dryer sheets at a slot in the reserved bay at aisle 65. A while later, on October 30, 2020, a second coworker placed a full pallet of 72 boxes of paper plates on top of the partial pallet. The pallets were about 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m) up. The employee was coming back from the loading dock, driving his pallet jack. He was in aisle 65 at the slot with the two pallets. As he passed the incorrectly stacked pallets, the two pallets fell and landed on him. The employee suffered head injuries, a fractured leg, and fractured ribs. He was hospitalized. The employer had an audit system in place by which supervisors were to conduct 160 audits each week on the employees. Sections A-B were the only racks where it was permitted for one pallet to be stacked on another. Racks C-F could have only one pallet. Employees were trained on this. The pallet of dryer sheets had been removed from the system and the pallet marked missing in action. When employees noticed a pallet in the slot where they were to place a pallet, they were to remove the one that was there, place it somewhere else, and update the computer system. The second coworker, who had placed the full pallet of 72 boxes of paper plates on top of the partial pallet, had not done this. He was fired for not following protocol. From October 30 through November 4, 2020, several supervisors had walked through the warehouse to perform audits without catching the double-stacked pallet. For an account of an incident that had occurred with this employer on June 7, 2020, in Stockton, California, see investigation number with UPA 1602920. That incident was a forklift injury.

Keywords: Distribution Center, Falling Object, Fracture, Head, Ind Trk Operator, Leg, Material Handling, Pallet, Pallet Jack, Powered Industrial Vehicle, Rib, Struck By, Supervision, Training, Warehouse, Warehouse Aisle, Work Rules