Inspection Detail

Inspection: 315435628 - National Distribution Centers

Inspection Information - Office: Cincinnati Area Office

Investigation Summary

On March 3, 2011, a worker was employed at National Distribution Centers. He worked as a stock handler at a facility at which merchandise was warehoused for distribution. He had been retrieving or placing stock while aboard a Raymond Model Number SACSR30T turret forklift, with Serial Number SA-05-04-001. This industrial truck followed wiring embedded in the floor that emitted a radio frequency; it proceeded around the facility as directed by the embedded strip. The Raymond forklift traveled only in the aisles that had rows of shelving on both sides. In order to pick a pallet from the floor or an upper shelf, the mast or turret section of the lift would turn perpendicular to the pallet, allowing the forks to slide into the webbing of the pallet. When the worker failed to come home after work, his family unsuccessfully attempted to reach someone by calling the company. The family then drove by the workplace and saw that the employee's vehicle was still there. The family contacted the police, who in turn called the fire department, which used the company's fire department emergency access ability to enter the building. The employee was found dead on the floor in the back corner of the warehouse. The narrative did not provide the nature of the injuries that led to the employee's death. The employee was wearing the harness required when personnel are elevated on this type of lift. The employee's harness was not attached to a suitable fixed-length lanyard, or he could not have fallen. The personnel platform and forks of the Raymond lift were elevated and pointed toward a loaded pallet on the top shelf level, 16.5 feet above floor level. The forks were angled downward slightly in what appeared to be an attempt to slide the forks into the webbing of the pallet. The pallet, however, was not sitting flush with either the front horizontal frame of the shelf or the bracing inside the frame. As a result, the bottom of the pallet had settled below the frame of the shelf. In addition, there were no bottom boards toward the back of the pallet, but there were at least two boards toward the front, which formed the bottom of the webbing of the pallet. The company brought in a Raymond manufacturer's representative to lower the lift involved in the accident. The representative used a scissor lift to get up to the level of the Raymond industrial truck's forks and platform. He then used two lanyards attached to his harness to gain safe access to the Raymond controls and a required tie-off point. A hand print was found in the dust on the rack frame where the pallet was located and a foot print on a lower rack frame. It appears that the employee could have been using an extra piece of the bracing to lift or leverage the pallet to get it to sit straight on the shelving or braces. In that way, the forks would have been inserted into the pallet web. As evidence in support of this theory, a single section of the metal bracing was found on the floor near the employee's body.

Keywords: WAREHOUSE, INDUSTRIAL TRUCK, ELDERLY, FALL, PALLET, STORAGE RACK, ELEVATED WORK PLAT