Inspection Detail

Inspection: 306745928 - Martin K. Eby Construction Co., Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Jacksonville Area Office

Investigation Summary

A crew was removing damaged pre-cast concrete pilings from a bridge construction job. The pilings were placed on a barge, transported to the shore, removed from the barge by a crane and taken away to a disposal site on truck beds. The concrete pilings were 14 inches wide by 14 inches high by 80 feet long and contained reinforcing steel (rebar). The pilings were too long for the truck beds, so the crew had been using a saw to cut the pilings in half. The saw broke and was not repaired. In order to break the pilings in half, it was decided to drop each piling onto another piling on the ground that was lying in a perpendicular position. The crane would hoist a piling off of the barge and drop it onto the piling on the ground until it broke in half. The piling was being lifted by using two wire rope choker slings that were equally spaced on each end. The chokers were attached to two wire rope slings that were attached to the crane hook. While attempting to break one of the pilings in half, an employee was working on the ground giving hand signals to the crane operator. The crane operator had lifted a piling from the barge and dropped it between three and four feet onto the piling on the ground impacting the suspended piling in the middle, but it did not break. The employee signaled for the crane operator to lift the piling and drop it a second time. Again, the piling broke more, but not into two pieces. The employee signaled for a third drop and the crane operator lifted the piling. Due to the damage created in the two previous drops, only the rebar was holding the piling in one piece. The load became unstable and one end struck a nearby truck. The employee ran to the push the unstable load away from the truck. While pushing one end of the piling, the other end of the piling folded, swung towards the employee and he was crushed between the two ends of the piling. Initially, the load was centered, but became unstable from the damage of being dropped. The rebar that was holding the piling together folded in the middle and the piling sandwiched the employee. He died from his injuries.

Keywords: STRUCTURE MOVING, BARGE, SUSPENDED LOAD, CONSTRUCTION, CAUGHT BETWEEN, CRUSHED, PRECAST, STRUCK BY, CONCRETE, UNSTABLE LOAD