Inspection Detail

Inspection: 309958643 - City Recycling Corp.

Inspection Information - Office: Manhattan Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 11:08 a.m. on April 22, 2006, Employee #1 was in the bed of a large container truck that was being loaded at City Recycling Transfer Facility. He was engaged in his usual work activity of removing pieces of unwanted debris (metal, plastic, rubber tires) during loading and in the yard, prior to the truck going to a landfill. A bulldozer dumped a load of debris into the bed of the container truck and Employee #1 was buried, asphyxiated, and killed. He was working alone in the truck bed and was not wearing a reflective vest or orange hardhat. There was no signal person to tell the bulldozer operator to dump or not dump. The height of the nearly empty truck bed walls are approximately 6.5 ft tall and are taller then Employee #1. The bulldozer's view to the front is blocked by its load bucket as it approaches the truck to dump. The employee was working Saturday towards the end of the shift when this occurred and the employer did not learn of the accident until Monday when the employee was reported missing, at which time the employer reviewed the facility video system, which had recorded the accident on video. The police were notified and the body was recovered at the landfill on Tuesday, April 25.

Keywords: ASPHYXIATED, HARD HAT, SIGNALMAN, PPE, OBSTRUCTED VIEW, LANDFILL, TRUCK, BULLDOZER, BURIED, FALLING OBJECT