Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1854595 - Indian Nation Developers

Inspection Information - Office: Region 09; San Francisco

Investigation Summary

At about 5:55 p.m. on August 3, 1984, Employee #1 was working with a scraper operator and soils technician attempting to solve a soil compaction problem on an earth berm being built up against the north outside wall of a new building. The base of the berm was about 135 feet by 35 feet. A loaded John Deere, model 762, excavating scraper was being used to wheel roll the fill by making backward and forward passes along the building wall and working out to the edge of the berm. Because of vehicles parked in the area, the scraper was backed rather than turned around. About half the berm had been rolled when the scraper was stopped about halfway through a forward pass while the soils technician ran a compaction test. The scraper operator had gotten off his equipment and was watching the test when Employee #1 walked up and discussed the compaction methods with the soils technician. They told the operator to finish rolling the berm to its outside edge; Employee #1 marked the edge for the operator with a flagged rebar. The operator got back on his scraper. Employee #1 and the soils technician had walked toward the soils technician's pickup, which was parked off the berm, but near its edge and toward the rear of the scraper. The scraper operator drove forward completing the pass, then backed to the right and straightened out to start a new pass on the next area over. Employee #1 had gotten on his hands and knees with his back to the scraper--apparently to check compaction--when the right rear tire of the scraper struck and rolled over his torso and legs. The operator could not see him, since he was directly behind the scraper. Employee #1 died of multiple injuries. The operator had not checked the back-up alarm the day of the accident and neither he nor the soils technician could say they heard the alarm working that day.

Keywords: BACK-UP ALARM, SCRAPER, BACKING UP, TIRE, TORSO, WORK RULES, LEG, OBSTRUCTED REAR VIEW, CONSTRUCTION