Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310099163 - Wilkinson Construction, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Foster City District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 3:00 p.m. on January 28, 2011, the employee was installing rafters from a plywood platform placed at about 16 feet high atop a rolling scaffold. He was fastening the rafters onto a cantilevered ridge beam. There were no guardrails on the work platform. Another employee was assisting the rafter installation by fastening the lower end of the rafters at the top plate of the 1st story. A coworker was operating an excavator atop a soil pile that had been built to enable the excavator to lift the rafter beams up to the workers. After lifting the rafters, the operator began to use the excavator to scrape up soil that had been displaced around the soil pile and reportedly struck a support brace for the structure once. A witness, who was spotting for the excavator operator and other employees, stated they warned the operator that he was getting too close to the structure and that he acknowledged their warning. While continuing to operate the excavator to scrape up soil in the area, the coworker stated that his vision became obscured by the afternoon sun and the boom of the excavator hit the ridge beam. This collapsed the roof structure, including the rafters, one of which struck the employee and knocked him off of the scaffold. He fell about 16 feet to the grade level below and his right leg was impaled upon an unprotected anchor bolt extending through the sill plate. The employee was transferred to Stanford Hospital, where he was admitted and treated for the puncture wound, a broken rib on his right side and multiple contusions and scrapes.

Keywords: EXCAVATION, FRACTURE, GUARDRAIL, MOBILE SCAFFOLD, RIB, FALL, FALL PROTECTION, CONTUSION, PUNCTURE, SCAFFOLD