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At approximately 1:30 p.m. on April 3, 2003, Employee #1, a Utility Service Person of Vandenberg Village Community Services District, in Lompoc, California, and his coworker, were working in the District's maintenance yard on 704 Highway 1 in Lompoc, California. They were installing a roughly 200 to 300-lb truck tailgate onto a Ford dump truck, Series F, with California plate number E 039357. A Case 580K front-end loader was to be used to lift the gate into place and Employee #1 was going to install the pins. Employee #1 and the coworker manhandled the gate into position and loaded it into the bucket of the front-end loader. The coworker began to operate the front-end loader and lift the gate while Employee #1 was standing near the bucket to secure the load manually. A chain or other device was not used to secure the load. When the bucket and tailgate was raised to approximately waist height, the tailgate slipped out of the bucket and landed across Employee #1's knees, momentarily disabling him from moving. Before the coworker could dismount the front-end loader, Employee #1 managed to push the tailgate off his knees and he and the gate fell to the ground. Employee #1 fractured both ankles and dislocated both knees. He was hospitalized.
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| Keywords:
knee, fracture, tailgate, truck, loader, struck by, bucket elevator, ankle, leg
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