Inspection Detail

Inspection: 300778172 - Hi-Cycle Concrete Cutting, Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 9:30 a.m. on October 2, 2001, Employee #1, an experienced demolition worker for Hi-Cycle Concrete Cutting, was cutting a red brick wall. The employee was operating a hand cutter manufactured by Reimann & George, Model 00466, Serial Number 99640. The hand cutter was fitted with a 20-inch double diamond cutter blade, which was worn out (most of the diamond was gone). Employee #1 was cutting the walls from two windows down to make openings to install doors in the lobby of a convalescence home community. The employee was required to make four vertical cuts about 4 feet in length. He was about 12 inches from completing that last cut when the cutter suddenly kicked back hitting him in the throat and left cheek, causing a deep laceration. The employee received a deep laceration, going obliquely from the right side of the neck, approximately one inch lateral to the midline at the level of the thyroid and cricothyroid, going obliquely up the left side and up the jaw, or the mandible, approximately one inch anterior to the angle of the mandible. Employee #1 was transported to Huntington Memorial Hospital where he was admitted and released a week later.

Keywords: DEMOLITION, LACERATION, NECK, HAND TOOL, BLADE, CONCRETE