Inspection Detail

Inspection: 516319.015 - Jose Gaitan

Inspection Information - Office: Naperville Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 5:30 p.m. on July 7, 2012, Employee #1, a delivery man had been contracted to deliver new appliances and remove old appliances from the delivery locations. Employee #1, who spoke and understood English, and a coworker, owner/operator, of the delivery truck, had finished unloading the old and used appliances that had been picked up from that day's deliveries and storing them in a semi trailer. The rear of the delivery truck had been backed up to the rear of the semi trailer to facilitate the transfer of the appliances, and had been parked on a sloped surface. Once the used appliances had been moved, The owner got into the cab of the delivery truck and pulled it away from the semi trailer to allow Employee #1 room to close the semi trailer's rear doors. This was a normal routine of Employee #1's job and was performed once a day. Employee #1 was closing the semi trailer's doors, when the delivery truck coasted backward and pinned Employee #1 between the delivery truck and the semi trailer, causing injuries to the chest and abdomen of Employee #1. Employee #1 was killed. The owner had not engaged the parking brake and the truck coasted back while it was in neutral, causing the accident. The investigation determined that employer/owner, although trained on the proper application of the parking brake, had not followed the delivery truck's manufacturer's warnings for preventing sudden, unexpected vehicle movements by applying the parking brake. There were no contributing weather variables.

Keywords: Brake, Caught In, Crushed, Delivery Work, Pinned, Struck By, Tractor Trailer