Inspection Detail

Inspection: 312690878 - San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency

Inspection Information - Office: San Francisco District Office

Investigation Summary

On March 30, 2011, Employee #1, a track maintenance supervisor, was working for a transportation agency. He and a coworker were in the depression beam storage area of the facility. They were removing a 74 in. long and 150 lbs depression beam from a rolling rack with a chain hoist that was mounted onto an overhead track. Once hoisted, they placed the beam on the ground. They were going to drag the beam and load it onto the truck and then take it to a jobsite. The rolling rack was not aligned with the overhead chain hoist track. The wheels of the rack had been installed approximately a month ago to provide mobility and alignment with the overhead track. Prior to the installation, the storage rack was mounted in a fixed position. The coworker did all the rigging and attachments. The chain hoist was attached onto a spreader bar. The ends of the spreader bar had a short cable and hook to attach onto the depression beam. The attachments were made with the rack positioned to one side of the overhead track. The coworker was pulling the chain to raise the beam. The depression beam was then removed from the rack and suspended. Employee #1 tried pulling the beam along the track. However, his attempt to pull the load did not move the hoist. Employee #1 decided to pull on the beam harder, which caused the hoist to move and the spreader bar to swing. One end of the spreader bar swung into and struck Employee #1 in the region just below his left eye. The coworker summoned emergency medical personnel and stayed with him. Employee #1 was taken to a medical center, where emergency surgery was performed to treat the injury, but the eye was beyond repair and was removed. After undergoing the surgical procedure, he was hospitalized for over two days.

Keywords: EYE, UNSECURED, SUSPENDED LOAD, HOIST, STRUCK BY, UNSTABLE POSITION