Inspection Detail

Inspection: 316348804 - Caltrans

Inspection Information - Office: Monrovia District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on November 13, 2013, Employee #1 was inspecting work on pile driving operations, which was being conducted by a subcontractor and along an expansion of freeway. There was a crew of four conducting pile driving drilling operations with a foreman supervising. The equipment involved a D-46 Delmag pile driving hammer along with Crane Number 1030 (Model Number 3900 and Serial Number 391005). He was standing approximately 20 ft away and inspecting the spiral reinforced concrete pile driving operation, while counting the number of blows necessary to drive a concrete pile into the ground. The spiral reinforced concrete piles measured 31 ft in length and 14 square inches in width. During the pile driving operations, the blow from a hammer shattered the top of a pile and ejected flying pieces of the concrete pile. The concrete debris flew in the air and struck the left backside of Employee #1. He was thrown to the ground and sustained injuries to his back, left shoulder, pancreas, and internal injuries (damaging his spleen, which was later surgically removed). During the time of the accident there were employees on site, four of the crew members were doing the pile driving drilling operations and a foreman was supervising the work been performed. Employee #1 was transported to a medical center, where he underwent surgery and was then hospitalized for postoperative and additional treatment. At approximately 10:57 a.m. on December 24, 2013, the incident was reported.

Keywords: SHOULDER, SPLEEN, PILE DRIVER, BACK, STRUCK BY, FLYING OBJECT