Inspection Detail

Inspection: 313382640 - Dependable Highway Express Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 8:15 a.m. on August 18, 2010, Employee #1 was working inside a warehouse. He was at the rear of a customer service building, which was an office building inside the warehouse. Days before the accident, his supervisor had asked him to decrease the number of fluorescent light bulbs from the roof, so he had removed three consecutive light bulbs and left the fourth one in every row. He placed the fluorescent light bulbs in trashcans. On August 18, 2010, Employee #1 wanted to bring the trashcans containing the fluorescent light bulbs down to a lower level. He ran into a coworker and asked for his help in bringing the trashcans down. Employee #1 asked him to get a forklift and elevate a pallet. The coworker then borrowed a forklift from another coworker and located a pallet with a board on top. The pallet was a tire pallet with a dimension of approximately 53 inches by 65 inches. The tire pallet did not have a bottom deck to secure the pallet into the forks. The coworker elevated the pallet so that it abutted the roof of the building. The roof was approximately 14 feet high. The pallet was not secured and did not have guardrails. According to the coworker, Employee #1 then said that he wanted to go down with the trashcans, but the coworker disagreed. The coworker had warned Employee #1 repeatedly not to step on the pallet, but Employee #1 proceeded to pull a trashcan onto one side of the pallet. With Employee #1 riding the pallet, the forklift headed back toward the building. On the way back to the building, the pallet tipped over, and Employee #1 fell along with the pallet and trashcan containing the fluorescent light bulbs. He fell approximately 14 feet. He sustained a head laceration, a fracture to his cheekbone, and a laceration of his right hand. A second coworker was a witness to the accident and corroborated the first coworker's claim that he had warned Employee #1 to not step onto the pallet. Employee #1, however, claimed that he did not hear the warnings, because the bailer was running and there was a lot of noise. He was taken to LA County+USC Medical Center and was hospitalized for about three weeks. A Serious accident related citation was issued for not having the proper work platform for elevating employees that met the requirements of T8 CCR 3657 (a). The platform was not secured, and it did not have guardrails. A general citation was issued for not identifying and evaluating the hazards prior to performing the task of lowering the trashcans to a lower level.

Keywords: UNSECURED, WAREHOUSE, WORK RULES, RIDING ON EQUIPMENT, INDUSTRIAL TRUCK, ELDERLY, FALL, PALLET, ELEVATED WORK PLAT, UNSTABLE LOAD