Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310055843 - Wente Bros. Dba Wente Vineyards

Inspection Information - Office: Oakland District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 7:45 a.m. on September 13, 2006, Employee #1 was working as a laborer and cellar worker at a winery. He was pulling a 1,520-pound piece of equipment known as a prescreen/draw cart to move it from the north end of the cellar tank area toward the south end, putting it on the other side of the tanks. A coworker, a maintenance mechanic, was walking through the area on his way to work on a crusher. Employee #1 conversed with the coworker regarding the weight of the equipment and how hard it was to pull. The coworker put his tool cart to the side and helped Employee #1 by pushing the prescreen cart from behind. Approximately 30 feet away was a Freightliner roll-off body truck parked alongside the tanks near the south end. The coworker was pushing from behind, and Employee #1 was pulling and steering the prescreen from the front. All of a sudden, the piece of equipment stopped moving. The coworker called out to Employee #1, Hearing no response, the coworker looked around the equipment and saw Employee #1 on the ground, bleeding from the head. Employee #1's head had been crushed between the prescreen cart and the corner of the roll-off body truck hoist rail track. Emergency medical technicians and the sheriff's department responded to the accident scene. Employee #1 had a weak pulse when he was airlifted to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley. He was diverted to Valley Care Medical Center, where he died upon arrival. He had sustained a massive laceration above his right eye, a massive laceration to his left occipital lobe, mandibular fractures, and skull fractures.

Keywords: EYE, HEAD, MAINTENANCE, AGRICULTURE, CAUGHT BETWEEN, CRUSHED, LACERATION, SKULL, TRUCK, CART