Inspection Detail

Inspection: 312437262 - B.L. Price Co. Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Van Nuys District Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1's supervisor was operating a CA 345 Excavator, in an open excavation when it became stuck in the soft wet soil in front of the lagging wall at the southwest corner of the excavation. The supervisor of the excavator contacted the president of the company, and he came over and got into the excavator to see if he could move it out of the stuck soil. He told Employee #1, and a coworker to go to the top of the excavation to give him signals so he could turn the excavator boom and bucket around in the opposite direction. Employee #1 was standing next to the wire cable railing above the lagging wall and the coworker was located on the other side of the boom. They were both giving signals to the operator and then at some point the excavator stopped and the operator indicated he could not move the bucket down anymore. Then suddenly, without warning, Employee #1 saw the bucket swinging towards him. The bucket hit him before he could move out of the way, pushing him into the wire cable railing. Employee #1 grabbed the cable as he was falling over the wall, consequently, his right thumb was amputated when he fell ten feet to the ground. Employee #1 was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he underwent surgery for reattachment of the thumb. The thumb reattachment became infected, and the injured employee went to another surgeon and he advised him that the infected thumb had to be removed immediately.

Keywords: BOOM, THUMB, FALL, STRUCK BY