Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1512414.015 - Pedrotti Materials

Inspection Information - Office: Redding District Office

Investigation Summary

At 12:06 p.m. on Monday, January 25, 2021, an employee was working as a heavy equipment operator for a firm that manufactured concrete products. She was using a Komatsu PC200LC-7 excavator/front end loader to move recycled concrete material. The material was getting compacted by five or six concrete railroad ties, and the employee was going to use the excavator to relocate the railroad ties. The employee positioned the excavator near the railroad ties and began moving them. The ties were approximately 8.5 feet (2.6 m) long. As she was moving the third tie, it became displaced from the excavator bucket. It entered the cab of the excavator through the front windshield. The concrete tie struck the employee on her right leg and pinned her in the cab. The employee suffered open fractures of the tibia and fibula in her right leg as well as the degloving of the skin of her lower right leg. She was hospitalized.

Keywords: Avulsion, Broken Bone, Degloving, Earthmoving Equip, Equipment Operator, Excavator, Falling Object, Fibula, Fracture, Front End Loader, Leg, Load Shift, Material Handling, Mech Mat Handling, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Pinned, Skin, Struck By, Tibia, Unsafe Position, Unstable Load