Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310921093 - Bay Valley Foods, Llc.

Inspection Information - Office: Nc Department Of Labor - Raleigh

Investigation Summary

An 68-year-old male employee, with 35 years of operator experience, was driving a 9,250 lbs. industrial forklift truck at 3-4 mph, in the forward mode, when he ran into an 8-inch by 8-inch by 100-inch rebar reinforced concrete curb with the left front hard rubber tire of the truck. The truck tilted to the right, the lateral center of gravity was abruptly changed and the moments of upright stability were exceeded. The truck continued to fall to the right side. The operator was not wearing the installed seat belt or may have released it in an attempt to escape and was partially ejected from the truck. The operator landed face down on the ground, perpendicular to the trucks right side. The upper horizontal bar of the roll-over cage struck the operator across the lower back, approximately 6 inches above his waistline. There were no visual signs of injury, but the operator was in great pain. Supervisory personnel arrived at the scene within 40 seconds and summoned another industrial truck to lift the fallen truck sufficiently to remove the operator. The operator was taken to a local hospital by Emergency Medical Services and later transferred by helicopter to a larger hospital with advanced life saving capabilities. The employee succumbed to massive internal injuries.

Keywords: CRUSHED, INDUSTRIAL TRUCK, OVERTURN