Inspection Detail

Note: The following inspection has not been indicated as closed. OSHA citation items will be posted 30 (thirty) days after the employer receives the citation(s), except in cases of significant public interest. Posted citation items reflect any amendments to citations that are the result of a prompt settlement, which OSHA encourages. Employers and employee representatives will continue to receive copies of the citation(s) upon issuance.

Inspection: 1557366.015 - Aerotek Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At 8:40 a.m. on September 1, 2021, an employee was working as a temporary worker for a staffing agency that recruits and provides manual labor to a national food ingredients distributor. The employee was operating a powered industrial vehicle (PIV) to move a Supersack Bag to the staging area. The bag was going to be secured to the Flexicon Z-Clip Bag Strap Holder, which is a type of crane spreader bar designed to lift and hold the straps of these types of sacks. Each sack weighs approximately 1,000 kilograms and has four individual hook straps located at each of the four corners of the sack. The employee strapped each hook strap into the strap holder clips on the spreader bar and then used the crane controls slowly hoist the sack. The employee continued to raise the sack slowly to ensure tension on each strap. He then maneuvered the sack over the dump station grating area before lowering it toward the metal grating. He stopped the sack approximately 3 feet above the grating area and allowed it to remain suspended there. At approximately 9:15 a.m., the employee walked to the grating area where he bent over and stuck his head and right hand in the air gap under the bag. At the same time, he extended his right arm reaching for the drawstring. The drawstring allows the sack to open from the bottom, allowing sugar to dump from the bottom of the bag onto the metal grating. As the employee grabbed the drawstring, the sack instantly fell onto the employee, pinning him against the grating. The employee became disoriented and tried to use his left hand to push the sack, but he could not. He began screaming for help and several coworkers rushed to his assistance trying to remove the sack. They cut the side of the bag to empty the sugar and after several minutes were able to free the employee. The employee was hospitalized to treat a broken jaw, broken nose, broken cheek bones, and a fractured right arm.

Keywords: Arm, Back, Broken Bone, Caught Between, Crushed, Elbow, Engineering Controls, Face, Falling Object, Finger, Floor, Floor Grate, Food processing, Fracture, Grate, Hand, Head, Industrial Truck, Jaw, Laborer, Lack of Engineering Controls, Material Handling, Neck, Nose, Powered Industrial Vehicle, Safety Device, Spreader Bar, Staffing Agency, Struck By, Suspended Load, Temporary, Temporary Employment Agency, Temporary Worker, Unsafe Position, Unstable Load