Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310990049 - Ssa Cooper, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Savannah Area Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1 was working as a Ship Side Worker removing loading slings from piping that had been landed on the dock. The pipes were banded together in bundles of four and were laid east-to-west on the dock with the east end of the pipes on the water side of the dock. The pipes were 42 ft long and weighed approximately 1.5 tons per bundle. To remove the slings from the bundles, an employee would walk on top of the piping after it had been landed and throw the ends of the slings toward the ends of the pipe for all of the bundles. The forklift would lift two-to-three bundles at a time and an employee would stand on the ground at each end of the piping and pull the slings off. At the time of the accident, a forklift had raised three bundles of piping and the slings had been removed from the bundles. The forklift driver said that he saw Employee #1 standing southwest of the landed piping in a safe area, when he started to carry his load to the lay-down area. The forklift operator was watching his load while he was driving forward when he heard another Ship Side Worker yell to Employee #1 to "watch out". When the forklift operator looked over, he saw Employee #1 standing on top of the piping near the west end of the piping. The piping the forklift operator was carrying struck Employee #1 on the left shoulder knocking him backward. Employee #1 fell between two bundles of piping that had a gap between them. Employee #1's body fell in such a manner that his feet and his head were above the piping with his buttocks resting on the ground. At this same time, another forklift driver on the south side had pulled up with his forks under the piping and bumped the piping that was against Employee #1's back causing it to crush his body. Employee #1 died at the scene from the injuries he sustained.

Keywords: FRACTURE, CAUGHT BETWEEN, CRUSHED, INDUSTRIAL TRUCK, MECH MAT HANDLING, PIPE, SLING