Inspection Detail

Inspection: 300828266 - Western Bagel Baking Corporation

Inspection Information - Office: Van Nuys District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 5:30 p.m. on October 16, 2004, Employee #1 was a production worker at a bakery specializing in the production of bagels. His duties included baking bagels and moving equipment associated with bagel production, carts, ingredients, boards, etc. He was moving a cart containing bagel boards, in the attempt to return the boards to the freezer area. The 18.5-in. by 26.25-in. cart is 65-in. tall. The carts have supports on 2 adjoining edges to support the stacked board on the cart. The remaining adjacent faces are open to allow the boards to be placed on to the cart. The boards are used as trays for bagel dough to be loaded into the broiler to broil the bagels prior to baking. The boards are also used to store frozen bagels previously prepared. A cart can hold 50 trays of frozen bagels or 150 empty trays stacked. Employee #1 and his coworkers had completed warming 150 boards of frozen bagels. The empty boards were stored on to a single cart for transport and the remaining two were left empty. The cart containing the boards was butted with its supports against the wall of the kitchen. This practice is normally followed to allow the easy placement of the empty boards on the cart. Employee #1 pulled the cart from the unsupported face of the cart to allow enough clearance to turn the cart in the desired direction of travel. In pulling the cart, the cart shifted forward and he noticed the board from the top were falling towards him and attempted to steady the boards with his left arm. The boards fell and their momentum forced his left arm to the ground. His arm was crushed between the fallen boards and the floor. Employee #1's arm was fractured and he was hospitalized.

Keywords: FRACTURE, BAKERY RACK, CRUSHED, STRUCK BY, ARM, FALLING OBJECT