Inspection Detail

Inspection: 311260277 - Culverts Plus, Inc. Dba Cpi Supply

Inspection Information - Office: Indiana Department Of Labor

Investigation Summary

Two truck drivers and a forklift operator had loaded the company truck trailer. Company practice was for drivers to secure their loads with ratchet straps. Drivers learned loading and unloading procedures on the job from experienced drivers. One of the two drivers installed ratchet straps across three galvanized pipes loaded on an otherwise empty trailer bed. One pipe was 762 millimeters in diameter and 7.3 meters long; the second was 660 millimeters in diameter and 15.2 meters long, and the third was 610 millimeters in diameter and 7.9 meters long. Next, the employees laid one N-12 drainage pipe on the passenger side of the trailer bed holding it in place with a chock. They placed two N-12 pipes in the valley between the first N-12 pipe and the galvanized pipe. The truck drivers installed ratchet straps across the three N-12 pipes. The three N-12 pipes were 610 millimeters in diameter and 6.1 meters long and weighed 100 kilograms each. The top N-12 pipe was centered on top of the 762-millimeter-diameter galvanized pipe. (The forklift operator, who had held the top N-12 pipe in place with his forklift until the pipe was strapped into place, believed that the N-12 pipe might roll when unloaded.) The first truck driver drove to the delivery site and began to unload the top N-12 pipe. Standing on the ground, he released the ratchet straps holding this pipe. The pipe rolled off the trailer bed, struck the driver in the back of the head, and knocked him to the ground, landing beside him. Workers at the delivery site summoned emergency medical services. At this point, the driver was not responding but, in a matter of seconds, got up. The injured driver walked to his truck, got in, and began vomiting. He did not know his own name or where he was. Emergency medical services transported the injured employee to a hospital. He died the next day at 9:00 am. The coroner's report stated that the employee died from intracranial hemorrhage from blunt impact to his head.

Keywords: LOADING, HEAD, LOAD SHIFT, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, UNSTABLE POSITION