Inspection Detail

Inspection: 316571520 - Veit Companies Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Minnesota Department Of Labor And Industry

Investigation Summary

At approximately 1:05 p.m. on June 5, 2012, an employee, of Veit Companies, LLC, was working at the Highway 169/I-494 interchange reconstruction project, a project of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Veit, a specialty construction contractor headquartered in Rogers, MN, had been subcontracted by the general contractor, Highway Technologies, to conduct the hole-digging operations in preparation for pouring concrete for piers and pylons. According to the Veit Supervisor's Incident Report and also the company's Incident Investigation Report, the employee was operating a drill rig to dig 29-foot holes. He phoned Maintenance Fleet to inform them that he had broken the seat on the drill rig, he was done at the site, and he would be returning the rig to the Maintenance Fleet for repairs. Approximately 1 hour later, the employee was found lying on the ground, adjacent to the drill rig, with the chair positioned under his right leg and behind his knee, and his hard hat near his legs. The pedestal of the chair was broken in half. He was determined to have suffered a concussion. The employee died on June 18, 2012, as a result of this head trauma injury. There were no witnesses to this accident. The general contractor was onsite, but this project was large, and no employees were in the accident area at the time of the accident.

Keywords: HEAD, HIGHWAY, PILE DRIVER, EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT FAILURE, DRILL RIG--NON-OIL, CONCUSSION