Inspection Detail

Inspection: 309301091 - Barler Equipment Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Santa Ana District Office

Investigation Summary

On April 7, 2008, Employee #1, an equipment operator, was working alone, operating a Caterpillar 561D Side-boom tractor, Serial Number 54X652 ("dozer") with a 6,000-lb grid roller attachment for crushing brush. Employee #1 was working the dozer downhill, parallel to the edge of a steep ridgeline, crushing brush on the slope below. It appears that the dozer lost traction on a spot of shale, then turned, and was forced nose down onto the slope by the weight of the grid roller. The dozer then proceeded down the ridge 150 feet, and fell off of a vertical ledge. The attached cable and grid roller followed whipping and tumbling 0.5 miles into the canyon bottom. Employee #1's crushed body was found in the path of the grid roller, entangled in the brush, 100 feet below the ridge line. Employee #1 was pronounced dead at the site. There were no witnesses to the accident.

Keywords: ROLLER--CONST EQUIP, ROLL-OVER, EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, CRUSHED, STRUCK BY, BULLDOZER, LOST CONTROL, WORK SURFACE