Inspection Detail

Inspection: 301331971 - Citrus Valley Health Partners Queen Of The Valley

Inspection Information - Office: Monrovia District Office

Investigation Summary

At about 10:30 a.m. on April 14, 2004, Employee #1, a food service worker with Citrus Valley Health Partners Queen of the Valley Campus, was performing her assigned duties assisting with meal preparation in the hospital kitchen area. While carrying a large bowl of canned sodas at waist level to the ice machine to get ice to fill the bowl she tripped and fell over a wheeled cart/ tray/dolly, which had been left unattended on the kitchen floor by another employee. Her shoe got caught on the wall of the metal tray, and she sustained multiple fractures to her left ankle. Employee #1 was taken to the emergency room at this same hospital facility for evaluation. Surgery was performed that evening for the multiple fractures in her left ankle. The object she tripped over was the wheeled bottom of the kitchen grease trap, which measures about 26 inches in length, 20 inches in width and is about 2.75 inches off the ground. Employee #1 had about eight months of experience. She assists in the preparation and serving of food in the hospital cafeteria, delivering patient trays, cleaning of the kitchen preparation areas, emptying the trash, and working the registers. Employee#1 was assisting in preparing a meeting/banquet function for a group of people. The incident was witnessed by two other employees, the cooks, who assisted her after the incident. Employee #1 stated that she had received initial safety orientation and on the job training.

Keywords: FRACTURE, OBSTRUCTED VIEW, WORK RULES, CAUGHT BY, TRIPPED, FALL, CART