Inspection Detail

Inspection: 308059666 - Freeman Bros. Inc. Dba Bibler Bros. Lumber Co.

Inspection Information - Office: Oklahoma City Area Office

Investigation Summary

On September 29, 2004, Employee #1 and coworkers went to the railroad spur to position a car that was to be loaded the next day. The car to be loaded was one of two empty cars that were connected and were adjacent to the car stop and at the south end of the spur line. In order to move the car to be loaded into the loading shed, a loaded car, which was under the loading shed, had to be connected to the two empty cars so that the forklift could move the connected cars while operating on the concrete. The forklift operator used the forklift to push the loaded railroad car south toward the two empty cars. Employee #1 was on the west side of the spur line, which is at the side of the south end of the loaded, moving railroad car. A witness was in a similar position on the east side of the spur line. Although it was not moving very fast, the loaded car had a large amount of kinetic energy as it approached the empty, stationary cars. As it approached, the coworker apparently noticed that the coupling devices of the two cars were not going to join up. He grasped a rung of the fixed ladder on the south end of the moving car with his left hand and put a foot on the coupler of the moving car, apparently with the intent of pushing the coupler into a position where it would mate with the coupler of the stationary car. The coworker was in this position when the moving car struck the stationary cars. The impact of the cars transferred the kinetic energy of the loaded car to the empty cars. These cars moved south into the car stopped at the end of the spur line. A small space was created between the coupler of the loaded car and the empty car. The impact of the cars flung the coworker into this space. The two empty cars moved south into the stop position and bounced back to the north. The coworker was crushed between the coupler of the loaded car and the empty railroad car. He was killed.

Keywords: LADDER, RAILROAD CAR, CRUSHED, INDUSTRIAL TRUCK, CONCRETE