Inspection Detail

Inspection: 120120415 - Stevedoring Services Of America

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 4:45 p.m. on May 17, 1997, Employee #1 was in the vicinity of where a Taylor top loader was loading a flatbed rail car. He had worked with the employer in the past, but had started in as a clerk for the first time on that day. Also present were the top loader driver, two operators of UTR/bombcarts, and two dockmen on the rail car. The supervisor of the operations was some distance away, but clearly within good view since the top loader was at a 90 degree angle to the rail car during loading. This perpendicular position of the top loader was immediately followed by a parallel position with respect to the rail car, which allowed the top loader to be in place for the next rail car, and the UTR/bombcart to advance so that container on the bombcart could be lifted by the top loader. This was a typical cycle for this kind of container loading on a flat rail car. At one stage of the cycle, immediately after the top loader placed a container on the flat car, it backed up at an angle of between 35 and 60 degrees to the rail car to assume a parallel position. While the top loader was backing up, Employee #1, who was walking and talking to his coworkers, was struck from behind and the back and run over by the loader's approximately 6 ft diameter tire. He died instantly. The UTR drivers and dockmen raised an alarm to alert the top loader operator, who stopped his vehicle and reversed to go forward to get out from over Employee #1's body. Causal factors in this accident include Employee #1 was not wearing a high visibility vest, the top loader operator not looking in the direction of travel, and the operator moving his vehicle without being certain that all persons were in the clear.

Keywords: LOADING, LONGSHORING, WORK RULES, LOADER, STRUCK BY, REFLECTIVE VEST, RUN OVER, COMMUNICATION, BACKING UP, INATTENTION