Inspection Detail

Inspection: 301995221 - Ceco Concrete Construction, Llc.

Inspection Information - Office: Baton Rouge Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on June 8, 1999, Employee #1, the concrete manager for Ceco Concrete Construction, and a coworker were on the fifth level of the LSU Life Sciences building, which was under construction. The general contractor was using a Manitowoc crawler crane, model 888, to unload galvanized metal parts from a truck and place them in storage on the ground level adjacent to the crane. This required the loads be palletized. The pallets were rigged by employees of the general contractor and supported by two 2 in. wide nylon slings secured to the crane hook. As one load was passing over the fifth floor, the pallets tilted and the load spilled onto the work area. Employee #1 was struck in the back and on the neck by some of the falling metal parts. He suffered fractures and internal injuries, and was killed. There was no signalman on the fifth level communicating with the crane operator so that workers could be alerted when a load was passing over them. The load involved in the accident was not well secured to the pallets, most of which were shrink-wrapped. An industrial truck, such as a Lull High-Reach, might have been a better choice for this task, but there was no such machine on site.

Keywords: FRACTURE, PALLETIZED CARGO, UNSECURED, WORK RULES, CRAWLER CRANE, CONSTRUCTION, BACK, OFF LOADING, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT