Inspection Detail

Inspection: 305348294 - Nelson Brothers

Inspection Information - Office: Santa Ana District Office

Investigation Summary

At 11:17 a.m. on October 10, 2002, an accident occurred at Nelson Brothers. This employer owns and manages some commercial real estate units used for retail businesses. Occasionally he hires some handymen and laborers for maintenance and modification or renovation tasks. These temporary employees are paid hourly and they are hired as needed. This accident occurred on a rolling scaffold with a work platform 6.33 feet above the floor. This platform measures 29 inches wide and 6.18 feet long. Proper guardrails were provided for the platform. At the time of the inspection, all wheels and the wheel locks were operating properly. Employee #1 was working alone inside a vacant retail business unit. Employee #1 was not a contract employee. He was performing some repairs on the ceiling, which was about 12 feet high. While on the scaffold platform, Employee #1 was rolling the scaffold around by holding and pulling on to the beams and trusses of the bare ceiling. While doing so, the scaffold tipped over and Employee #1 fell to the floor with it. There was no eyewitness to this accident. Later a friend of Employee #1 came by to see him and found him unconscious on the floor. The friend called the paramedics and Employee #1 was taken to the hospital. Employee #1 suffered injury to his head and right shoulder. He was admitted to the Trauma Surgery Service at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. Tests showed that he had a punctate hemorrhage in the brain and partial rupture of the supraspinatus tendon in the right shoulder. He was hospitalized for 6 days.

Keywords: MAINTENANCE, SHOULDER, MOBILE SCAFFOLD, CEILING, HEMORRHAGE, FALL, BRAIN, CONTUSION, OVERTURN