Inspection Detail

Inspection: 316672062 - Borrmann Metal Center

Inspection Information - Office: Van Nuys District Office

Investigation Summary

On November 4, 2013, Employee #1, a warehouse man with Borrmann Metal Center, and a coworker, were working in the B-Bay pit area and were stacking a bundle of metal flat bar hoisted from a crane. Employee #1 was positioning dunnage (padding in a shipping container) onto a stacked bundle of metal to lower a bundle that was hoisted by a crane. His coworker was positioning himself by climbing and standing on an adjacent set of stacked bundles. The dunnage twisted and broke, and the bundles rolled over and crushed Employee #1's right lower leg. The bundles that the coworker was standing on were not stacked properly. The stack was a set of three bundles. The bottom bundle was squared in shape, the middle bundle was circular in shape, and the top bundle was squared in shape. This adjacent stack of bundles rolled over and fell on Employee #1. The immediate supervisor was not in the area at the time of the accident. The factors that caused the accident were that the coworker climbed onto the stack of bundles and destabilized the stack that fell on Employee #1. Also, the stack of bundles was not properly stacked so as to make the pile stable. The square-shaped bundles should have been stacked at the bottom, and the circular-shaped bundle should have been placed on the top. Additionally, the dunnage that was used may not have been of adequate strength to support and stabilize the bundles. Employee #1 was hospitalized with a fractured lower right leg and a leg avulsion (the detachment of the leg bone fragment that was pulled away from its normal point of insertion, e.g., a ligament, tendon, or joint capsule).

Keywords: FRACTURE, METAL BAR, STACKER CRANE, WAREHOUSE, FALL, STRUCK BY, DUNNAGE, FALLING OBJECT, LEG, UNSTABLE LOAD