Inspection Detail

Inspection: 307166561 - Conco Cement

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 8:15 a.m. on September 2, 2005, Employee #1, a journeyman carpenter with 25 years of experience in the trade. Employee #1 and a coworker were performing radius formwork with the interior of the CEP DWP fan shaft structure of the site. The radius/circular formwork is built using 2-ft by 4-ft studs and .375-in. sheets of plywood. Once the formwork has been built it is filled with cement. After the cement has been given sufficient time to dry, the plywood formwork is removed, the end results being a cement circular wall. Prior to the accident, all but one of the plywood sheets was in place. Employee #1 propped a 16-ft fiberglass extension ladder against a portion of the formwork that was completed and blocked the base of the ladder. Employee #1 was placing the last sheet of plywood and because of the circular shape of the form work, pressure needed to be applied to the center portion of the plywood to form the radius shape of the formwork. Employee #1 used a 4-ft by 4-ft wood beam, approximately 10-ft long as a spreader. Employees #1 and his coworker wedged one end of the 4-ft by 4-ft wood spreader at the bottom of the opposite wall and propped the other end up against the center portion of the plywood. Employee #1 was standing on the third or fourth rung of the extension ladder and began to use an 8-lb sledgehammer to pound on the 4-ft by 4-ft spreader beam, in a downward motion until the plywood had the correct radius. During the process of hammering on the spreader, Employee #1 thinks he might have struck the spreader on the side instead of directly on the top and the spreader sprung loose striking Employee #1 on the right leg above his ankle, and knocking him off the ladder. Employee #1 fell approximately 3 ft to 4 ft to the ground. Employee #1 was hospitalized and treated for a compound fracture to his right leg.

Keywords: FRACTURE, EXTENSION LADDER, WALL, WOOD SLAB, CONSTRUCTION, FALL, STRUCK BY, HAND TOOL, LEG