Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310034848 - Trucksmith Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Jacksonville Area Office

Investigation Summary

On January 30, 2008, Employee #1, a 51 year-old-male Truck Driver with Trucksmith Inc., was assigned to drive a 1985 GMC Truck with a rollback bed to a scrap yard to deliver a load of scrap metal. The GMC Truck was equipped with a bed that could be tilted, and was designed for carrying vehicles with wheels. The scrap metal that was loaded onto the bed consisted of an old truck cab and frame with a dump truck box sitting on top of the old truck frame. The dump truck box was loaded with several thousand pounds of additional scrap metal. There was also some additional scrap metal on the rear of the truck bed behind the old truck and dump truck box. This load was secured to the tilting bed with two chains. According to the scale at the scrap yard, the load weighed 22,840 pounds. After the load was weighed, Employee #1 drove his truck to the area where the load was to be placed. An employee of the scrap yard informed Employee #1 that he would get a crane to unload the tilt bed but Employee #1 decided to unload it by tilting the tilt bed which would allow the load to fall onto the ground. Employee #1 loosened the chains from the load, and removed the forward chain, and was attempting to remove the rear chain. The rear chain could not be easily removed because it was stuck in the load. Employee #1 was observed with one hand on the chain while he was bent over in the area of the tilt bed controls. At this time, the scrap metal load (dump box and contents) rolled off the tilt bed onto Employee #1 crushed him. Employee #1 died at the scene from his injuries The GMC Truck was parked on the dirt scrap yard with the right rear wheels lower than the left rear wheels, and the tilt bed had been raised about three to four feet in height.

Keywords: LOAD SHIFT, CRUSHED, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, TRUCK DRIVER