Inspection Detail

Inspection: 125978130 - Pacific Container Terminal

Inspection Information - Office: High Hazard Unit - South

Investigation Summary

At approximately 8:30 a.m. on May 12, 1997, Employee #1 was operating top handler #13 to unstack and load containers onto a utility tractor at spot #2014 of the Pacific Container Terminal. A top handler is a large industrial powered truck used extensively throughout marine terminals to move cargo housed within large containers. As he lifted a container off the stack and backed up, the industrial truck fell forward. It came to rest as the contained it was lifting struck the stack of containers and the yard surface. Employee #1 fell from the operator' seat onto the fork truck's windshield, sustaining contusions to his left shoulder and elbow. He was transported to St. Mary's Hospital in Long Beach for medical treatment. Employee #1 had more than ten years of experience as a top handler, and was also a trained crane operator. The containers had been stacked four high, a common practice which allowed for maximum utilization of the available space within the yard. The top handler, manufactured by Taylor Machine Works, Inc., was equipped with clearly posted warning placards that read "tilt (mast and load out) only when load is over a stack." (Note: Abstract text next complete.)

Keywords: LONGSHORING, IND TRK OPERATOR, WORK RULES, STRUCK AGAINST, INDUSTRIAL TRUCK, MECH MAT HANDLING, ELBOW, CONTUSION, UNSTABLE POSITION