Inspection Detail

Inspection: 305476384 - Coast Diving Service Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

On March 23, 2004, Employee #1, the president of Coast Diving Service Inc., was inspecting an operation at a job site. The company offers cleaning and repairing services of ship hulls while in the water, which entails the need for diving operations. On the day of the incident, Employee #1 wanted to ensure that the load line on a truck-mounted crane was properly installed onto the load line drum. During this operation, the load line had been pinned to the boom sheave head. A snatch block on the line had been secured to an anchor, while the boom had been fully extended and raised. The hoisting apparatus was manufactured by R.O. Corp, Model Number 145-63, Serial Number 701-1187-107. The crane was rated at 7,000 pounds. A coworker, the crane operator, stood in one of the crane operator wells on the truck while Employee #1 was standing on the 18-in. high, 3-in. wide backstop of the truck bed in order to see the load line spool on the drum and to direct the crane operator. Employee #1 was resting his right hand against the telescoping boom of the crane, near an inspection port. As the crane operator retracted the boom while bringing in the load line, one of the outer boom sections passed by the inspection port and amputated Employee #1's right ring finger tip. Employee #1 had been looking to his right to observe the line feed onto the drum when the boom sections and load line approached from his left. He underwent surgery to treat his injury.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, CRANE BOOM, FINGER, WORK RULES, DIVING, LOAD LINE, CRANE OPERATOR, CRANE, INATTENTION