Inspection Detail

Inspection: 309904555 - Western Imperial 2000 Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on December 5, 2006, Employee #1 was part of a crew demolishing building components such as ventilation systems, plumbing as well as electrical systems. One of the components to be demolished was a channel on the ceiling of the room which was a high ceilinged department store. The channel was made of metal screen and gypsum plaster. The channel was 19 ft above ground, and provides fire protection for the area and housing for the electrical conduits. To demolish the gypsum channel with its metal screen, one has to elevate himself close to it and hit it with a tool such as a hammer so it would disintegrate into pieces and fall to ground. Two rolling scaffolds were erected to serve this purpose, with two employees on board each. One employee was tasked with the sweeping of the debris as it fell and the pushing of the rolling scaffolds. The working foreman was doing other chores such as operating the electric hammer on the ground. Employee #1 and a coworker were sent up on one of the rolling scaffold to continue wrecking the gypsum channel. At approximately 2:10 p.m. the coworker, working on the other end of the rolling scaffold heard someone shouting and saw Employee #1 falling to the floor. Employee #1 hit the floor, head first and suffered severe brain injury with cerebral edema and was pronounced brain dead at approximately 4:00 p.m. on December 6, 2006. at the hospital.

Keywords: FRACTURE, HEAD, DEMOLITION, FALL, HAND TOOL, BRAIN, SCAFFOLD