Inspection Detail

Inspection: 951503.015 - Davis Motor Coach, Ltd.

Inspection Information - Office: Cleveland Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 11:00 a.m. on December 2, 2013, an employee was assigned to remove a downpipe from a scrapped Vanhool bus located in the lower lot of a parts yard. The bus was lifted using a 20-ton bottle jack that was resting on a piece of wood that measured 2 feet long by 4 inches wide by 4 inches thick. While the employee was under the bus to remove the downpipe, the wood board and jack sunk into the ground that consisted of gravel and mud. Employee#1 became pinned under the bus, which sunk to only 8 inches of clearance. The employee called his supervisor for help; however, his supervisor could not clearly hear the employee over the phone. After three attempts to communicate with the employee over the phone, the supervisor contacted a coworker to go check on the employee. The employee was discovered by the coworker trapped beneath the bus. The coworker contacted emergency services and quickly grabbed another jack to lift the bus off of the employee. The employee was transported to a nearby hospital and then transferred by helicopter to another facility, where he was treated for crushing injuries to his chest and head. However, the employee died four days later as a result of his injuries.

Keywords: Chest, Crushing, Head, Jack, Motor Vehicle, Pinned, Unstable Soil, Unstable Surface