Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310200373 - Sos Crane & Trucking

Inspection Information - Office: Van Nuys District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 11:27 a.m. on February 19, 2008, Employee #1 was working as an operator of an industrial truck. The facility at which he worked was a medium-size business employing sixty employees, with locations in Bakersfield and Long Beach, California. Employee #1 had been working there for one month and four days, performing the duties of a forklift operator. He was working near another forklift operator and a yard hand. He removed pipe used in the oil industry from trailers and stacked the pipe in neat piles parallel to each other, up to a height of just below six feet. At the time of the accident, he was performing a regularly assigned task of climbing an extension ladder to gain access to the top of a pipe rack. He needed to get up there so that he could put into place boards that would serve as dunnage. Employee #1 and a coworker, the yard hand, were putting 2.875-inch steel tubing on the pipe rack. Employee #1 was using a 24-foot extension ladder to get up on top of the rack to some put into place some 2 by 4 boards before starting another row of tubing. The rack was 5 feet, 9 inches high. Employee #1 had placed the ladder against the rack of pipe, with the base of the ladder approximately three to five feet away from the rack. Employee #1 was beginning to climb the ladder, when a second coworker, the other forklift operator, came driving by in a water truck, saw him, and stopped to hold the ladder. The second coworker walked up and grabbed the ladder on Employee #1's left-hand side as Employee #1 was on the second or third rung. Employee #3 was unable to steady the ladder, and it slid off the steel tubes. Employee #1 jumped from the ladder as it began to slide and landed on his feet, but then he fell to the ground. He sustained a comminuted fracture of the tibia and fibula in his left leg. He was transported by a local ambulance company to the emergency room at San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield. Interviews were conducted with Employee #1, his immediate supervisor, two yard employees, and two management officials. The investigation concluded that there was a violation of safety orders pertaining to safe access. As a result, the Division issued a general citation, 3339(b). In addition, there were four additional general citations, one regulatory, and one serious citation, 3395(e) (1) issued.

Keywords: BOARD, LOADING, FRACTURE, IND TRK OPERATOR, LADDER, INDUSTRIAL TRUCK, FALL, PIPE, LEG, UNSTABLE POSITION