Inspection Detail

Inspection: 309991297 - Lehigh Southwest Cement Company

Inspection Information - Office: Sacramento Mining & Tunneling District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 6:34 p.m. on February 13, 2007, an employee was working in the cement plant. The cement plant was shut down to perform scheduled maintenance and repair. The kiln had been shut down 2 days and allowed to cool long enough to work inside of the preheating tower. The work to be performed by the labor crew was to enter the preheat tower stage 4 cross over duct and to remove the build up of combustion precipitate from the floors and walls. The employee entered the chamber. He was working about 10 minutes when a slab of the material came off of the wall near the chamber opening. The slab measured approximately 4-ft by 6-ft by 1-ft thick and was estimated to have weighed about 500 lbs. The slab fell onto the employee's lanyard. His head and torso was forced down into a curled position and some of the weight of the slab was on his body and leg. The material was removed from under the leg of the employee which freed up his body. The fall harness was replaced. A neck and body brace was put on and then he was placed on a back board and removed from the chamber and down the scaffold to the main level where a first responder medical crew took over and transported him to Mercy Hospital in Redding. Tests showed that he had received four broken ribs and a chipped C3 vertebrae and other soft tissue damage. He was admitted to the hospital.

Keywords: FRACTURE, CONSTRUCTION, RIB, FALL PROTECTION, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, VERTEBRA