Inspection Detail

Inspection: 313649097 - Kimco Staffing Services Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

On August 1, 2013, Employee #1, a 20-year-old male with Kimco Staffing Services Inc., was sent to a warehouse of an electronic appliance manufacturer who was handling returned parts. At this secondary employer's worksite, Employee #1 was delegated with the responsibility of cutting empty parts boxes and separating plastic from cardboard. Scrap parts, however, are to be placed in gaylords (bins) and taken inside the parked containers which are later inventoried before they are taken to another location. Employee #1 worked in the southeast corner of the warehouse, adjacent to several docks. Employee #1 already filled up one Gaylord with scrap parts and was getting ready to push the Gaylord into the waiting container. But, the roll-up door was padlocked so Employee #1 asked for someone to unlock the door. Once the roll-up door was opened, Employee #1 observed that the dock plate was not engaged so he started to engage it by inserting a metal rod into the socket attached to the dock plate and pulled it back to raise the two part dock plate up and back. As the dock plate was raised backward, before Employee #1 could push it forward into place, Employee #1 had held on to the inner edge of the first part of the dock plate to help pull it back. Then, Employee #1 started to lose his balance, and the dock plate had straightened out onto the bed of the container. As the two part dock plate straightened out, the area between the two dock plates closed and pinched Employee #1's gloved left hand. Employee #1 was able to pull out his hand from the pinch point but the glove remained pinched between the dock plates with the tip of his left index finger. Employee #1 was treated for an amputation at a local hospital; however, this did not require an overnight stay. Employee #1 was a regular employee of the staffing service and a contract employee of the host Employer. The host Employer was an electronics parts processing warehouse. Kimco Staffing Services Inc. was a staffing service that provided labor to several companies in different industries.

Keywords: PLATFORM, AMPUTATED, DOCK, FINGER, LOADING RAMP, INTERMODAL CONTAINER, LOADING DOCK, LOST BALANCE