Inspection Detail

Inspection: 305477028 - Remedy Intelligent Staffing

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

On August 8, 2004, Employee #1, an employee of a temporary agency, was working at a music/movie video, CD and cassette distributor for stores, assigned to the Reject/Replenish Conveyor line on the mezzanine floor where he was to monitor the boxes that came through the conveyor line. When Employee #1 returned from lunch, he climbed up the stairway leading to the mezzanine floor. As he stepped onto the platform near the stairway landing, his foot hit the flap of a cardboard box that was on the floor and he tripped and fell. As he pulled himself back up, Employee #1 lost his balance and his left hand, in an effort to check his balance, landed on the operating conveyor belt on the spacer, a cylindrical 1-inch-diameter rod that bridges the gap between the belt head pulley of one short section and the tail pulley of the next belt conveyor section. Employee #1's left hand was pulled into the in-running nip-point between the spacer and the head pulley, crushed, and abraded. Employee #1 was hospitalized. The mezzanine floor was made of steel grating that enabled one to see through the floor. Another employee, working on an earlier shift was having a problem with his shoes on the floor, so he placed several pieces of opened cardboard on the floor. One of the cardboard pieces was close to the stairway landing.

Keywords: FRACTURE, WORK RULES, CAUGHT BETWEEN, TRIPPED, WALKING SURFACE, ABRASION, FALL, NIP POINT, CONVEYOR BELT, HAND