Inspection Detail

Inspection: 313167249 - Pacific Knoell Contracting, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Santa Ana District Office

Investigation Summary

On September 2, 2010, Employee #1, a concrete finisher, and two coworkers were pouring concrete in a shaker room for an equipment testing laboratory. They had poured a 16-ft by 16-ft by 4.-ft pad with 1.5-inch spacing around the periphery, separating it from the surrounding floor. To maintain this gap, they had installed spacers during the concrete pour. These spacers consisted of metal grills sandwiched in between two plywood boards. These grills were made of 1.5-inch angle iron header with four metal rebar fingers attached at right angle. The grill structure was 5.33-ft by 2-ft, providing 0.75-inch spacing with the other 0.75-inch spacing provided by the plywood to make up the 1.5-inch gap needed around the shaker pad. The angle iron header on the grill was sticking above the top level of the concrete pour. After the concrete had cured, the workers were removing these spacers, using an overhead crane. They attached a chain onto the header of the spacer grill and then used the crane to pull it out. Employee #1 hooked the chain on the grill and gave the crane operator a signal to pull it out, but he still had his left hand in the chain. When the chain tightened, his left middle fingertip was crushed in-between the chain and the angle iron header of the grill. Employee #1 suffered an amputation of his left middle fingertip. He was treated in the emergency room and released after 5 hours.

Keywords: CHAIN, CONCRETE FORM WORK, AMPUTATED, HOISTING MECHANISM, FINGER, CAUGHT BETWEEN, CRUSHED, CONCRETE, CRANE