Inspection Detail

Inspection: 307392118 - Pg&E

Inspection Information - Office: San Francisco District Office

Investigation Summary

At about 10:17 a.m. on April 4, 2005, an employee was working for the utility Pacific Gas and Electric. He and a coworker were at a site in San Francisco, CA. The coworker was using a loader to dump drain rock into a trench in preparation for the installation of two boxes that were being set side by side. On the opposite side of the trench, Employee #1 was standing to the left of the loader and in front of a three-foot-tall fence, giving directions to his coworker, the loader operator. The loader moved forward onto the sidewalk to reach the area to be filled. Suddenly, the sidewalk gave way, causing the loader to move first to the left, and then to the right while lunging forward. As the loader moved to the left, the employee attempted to run to the right. When the loader moved back to the right, the employee became pinned between the loader bucket and the fence. He was holding on to the bucket, when the fence partially collapsed, causing him to fall backward. He was hanging upside down over a stairway, with his ankles pinned between the fence and the bucket. He fractured at least one ankle or foot. It was determined that the collapse of the sidewalk could not have been foreseen, and thus no accident-related violation was found as a result of an investigation into the incident.

Keywords: TRENCH BOX, ELECTRICAL, ROCK, CONSTRUCTION, CAUGHT BETWEEN, E C, FALL, FENCE, LOADER, FALLING OBJECT