Inspection Detail

Inspection: 304322357 - Trism Specialized Carriers

Inspection Information - Office: Saint Louis Area Office

Investigation Summary

In the afternoon of August 1, 2001, Employee #1, a truck driver with Trism Specialized Carriers arrived at the customer site of the Drury Development Corporation. The site included the offices for the Drury Development and a warehouse for storing materials used for hotel construction. When Employee #1 entered the facility yard, another employee, a loader, who loaded construction materials onto the truck, asked Employee #1 to turn the truck around and situate it on a level area. He then began loading bundles of scaffolding using a forklift, approximately 20 end-braces of scaffolding banded together, with bundles oriented upright, two bundles per row. There were approximately seven rows of scaffolding bundles. While loading the third bundle, another employee requested that Employee #1 move away from the loading process and Employee #1 agreed to sit in the cab and wait. While retrieving the last bundle of materials to be loaded using cross braces, another employee heard a crash and ran over to the truck. While looking at what happened, he heard Employee #1's call for help. He found Employee #1 with a bundle of scaffolding on top of her. The other employee called for the ambulance and waited with Employee #1 until medical personnel arrived. Another employee remembered that there were no securing straps over the bundles, while he was going to retrieve the last bundle, but when he was running back to the truck after the crash, he observed that the securing straps were placed over the bundles. The other employee believed that Employee #1 began to secure the load while he was away retrieving the last bundle of materials. Employee #1 died as a result of the accident.

Keywords: CHEST, LOADING, FRACTURE, WORK RULES, TRUCK, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, TRUCK DRIVER