Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1520787.015 - Mesa Line Services, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Houston South Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 12:25 a.m. on March 21, 2021, Employees #1 and #2 and a coworker, employed by a power and communication line construction company, were engaged in the construction of a power line tower. Employees #1 and #2 were working from a personnel basket hoisted by their coworker, a crane operator. They were installing the arms of a monopole. As they adjusted the bracket, the personnel basket, which was not properly secured to the crane boom, fell off the boom. Employees #1 and #2 fell with the personnel basket, a fall height of 150 feet. Employee #1 sustained blunt force trauma to the head and neck and was killed. Employee #2 was transported by emergency services to the hospital, where he was admitted for treatment of multiple injuries including multiple fractures and fluid in the lungs. The subsequent investigation of the equipment failure determined that the large retaining pin had not been inserted to keep the basket and jib attachment secured to to the jib adaptor and crane boom. In addition, no one had conducted visual inspections of the equipment.

Keywords: Basket, Blunt force trauma, Construction, Crane, Crane Boom, Equipment Failure, Fall Protection, Fracture, Head, Installing, Jib Crane, Locking Pins, Lung, Metal Pole, Neck, Overhead Power Line, Personnel Cage, Pin, Tower, Unsecured, Utility Pole