Inspection Detail

Inspection: 300754975 - Tabc Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 12:15 a.m. on August 28, 1997, Employee #1, a production/crane operator at a truck bed production facility, was standing outside the locker room reading the bulletin board at the end of his shift. The bulletin board was in the southwest corner of the hydraulic power press building #2, and dies for the presses were stored in the west end of the building. The dies were stacked on two wooden planks that were 3.5 in. by 2.75 in. in cross section and ranged from 3.8 to 5.2 tons. A stack of four dies fell over and struck Employee #1, resulting in crushing injuries to his lower abdomen and pelvis and an abdominal laceration. He died on September 14, 1997. The dies had been placed in the storage area 3 hours earlier by an overhead crane, and the arrangement and placement of the press dies in the stack was done with the crane operator using his best judgment. The bottom die had two large cut outs along its lower edge, facing the direction in which the dies eventually fell. The two wooden planks were located in such as way as to intersect those cut-outs. Chutes extending out from the side of the bottom die obscured the view of the cut outs when looking down at the side of the die. There was a lot of vibration in the building at the time of the accident.

Keywords: UNSECURED, WORK RULES, VIBRATIONS, CRUSHED, PELVIS, FALL, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, UNSTABLE POSITION