Inspection Detail

Inspection: 315345660 - Robertson'S Ready Mix

Inspection Information - Office: San Diego District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 19, 2012, an employee was working as the driver of a concrete truck for a ready mixed concrete firm. He was at a jobsite in San Diego, CA. The worksite where the incident occurred was a community college where several improvement projects were ongoing. The employee was reporting to the site with a full truck of concrete. It held 10 cubic yards (7.65 cubic meters) of concrete. The employee was delivering the concrete to another contractor for the pouring of a concrete sidewalk and curb. His job that day included receiving the load of concrete from his employer's plant, driving to the site, and unloading the concrete under the direction of the other contractor. A third contractor had dug a four-foot-deep (1.22-meter-deep) trench for a water pipe at the side of the road that was adjacent to the pour site. The trench was separated from the road by a temporary fence, and the contractor had covered the trench with temporary steel plates. When the truck driver was directed to the site, the second contractor moved the fence erected by the third contractor. The second contractor then directed the truck driver to back his truck onto the steel plates. This was done so that the truck's chutes would reach the place where the concrete was being poured to make the sidewalk and curb. The truck driver was waiting by the side of his truck near the back to start the pour, when a steel plate beneath his truck slipped into the trench below. The truck toppled over onto the truck driver. He suffered 8 individual fractures to his left leg and his tailbone (coccyx), and he was hospitalized. He was transported to Sharp Hospital, where he was hospitalized for more than a week. The Division was notified of the accident by the employer at 2:30 p.m. on the same day.

Keywords: STEEL PLATE, CONCRETE FORM WORK, FRACTURE, CONCRETE TRUCK, TRENCH, FALLING OBJECT, LEG, OVERTURN, TRUCK DRIVER, UNSTABLE POSITION