UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Inspection Detail

Note: The following inspection has not been indicated as closed. Please be aware that the information shown may change, e.g. violations may be added or deleted. For open cases, in which a citation has been issued, the citation information may not be available for 5 days following receipt by the employer for Federal inspections or for 30 days following receipt by the employer for State inspections.

Inspection: 1629877.015 - Gerber Poultry, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Cleveland

Investigation Summary

At 1:45 p.m. on October 5, 2022, an employee was picking up trash and bolts left behind after the coworker moved equipment around using a powered industrial veh icle. was working at a poultry product wholesaler. During lunchtime, the employe e had asked the coworker if he could pick up materials that had fallen off the s kid, and the coworker agreed. The employee helped pick up the materials, and dur ing that time the employee asked the coworker what was going to be done with the machines out in the yard. The coworker told the employee that the guardrails ha d to be removed and then the machines would be loaded onto trucks and shipped ou t. However, the coworker told the employee not to worry about it and that the pr oject could wait until tomorrow when they could get additional help. The coworke r then left to assist in another area of the facility and assumed that the emplo yee went to lunch. Approximately two hours later, the coworker's phone went off about medical assistance needed in the yard to he headed back that direction. T he coworker thought that the employee was still out back picking up trash and th ought he needed some water. When the coworker arrived at the back of the facili ty, he found the employee laying on the ground. Although there were no witnesse s, it appeared that at some point the employee returned to the shop to gather so me tools and attempted to remove the guardrails alone. The guardrail was approx imately 4 feet long by 4 feet wide and was connected to the equipment by two lar ge bolts which were approximately 5 feet 9 inches from the ground. The guardrail s were very heavy and required two workers plus a forklift to originally install them. As the employee removed one of the guardrails, the rail fell and struck him in the head. The employee was killed by head injuries including a brain blee d.

Keywords:brain, brain bleed, elderly, falling object, guardrail, head, misjudgement, misjudgement of hazardous situation, removing, struck by, unwitnessed, working alone