Inspection Detail

Inspection: 125491886 - Largo Concrete, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: San Francisco District Office

Investigation Summary

On the afternoon of March 4, 1999, Employee #1, a journeyman carpenter, was rigging a column form on the eleventh floor on the south side of a building. The tower crane operator was moving concrete column forms from the south tower to the north tower. Several of the columns had already been stripped and flown to the north tower. Employee #1 was rigging the forms using nylon chokers, which were passed through the void between the plywood and the top clamp, and then passed through the second clamp, where they were secured. There was a gap between adjacent 2 x 4's. For some reason, Employee #1 climbed above the second lowest clamp to feed the choker into position and secured himself to the form using his safety harness and pelican hook. No one saw the column topple. Employee #1 was found partially trapped beneath the column and secured to it by his pelican hook. The form was removed from his chest, and the crew members administered CPR until the paramedics arrived . Employee #1 was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:20 p.m. on March 4, 1999. The cause of his death was multiple blunt force injuries to his chest, caused by the top clamp on the form. Employee #1 had positioned himself on the 29 in. side of the column and was secured to the vertical steel tube by a clamp. He and his crew members had followed this standard practice many times prior to the accident, and the forms were not secured during this time. This incident could have been prevented if the column forms had been securely braced. The employer was cited for a violation of T8CCR 1713(b), which states that form panels for concrete structures shall be securely anchored, guyed, or braced to prevent them from falling or collapsing.

Keywords: CHEST, CONCRETE FORM WORK, CPR, UNSECURED, CARPENTER, PINNED, WORK RULES, CONSTRUCTION, STRUCK BY, BRACING