Inspection Detail

Inspection: 316619865 - Town Of Blacksburg - Public Works

Inspection Information - Office: Sc Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation

Investigation Summary

On October 16, 2012, Employee #1 was backing up a sanitation truck, (Pak-Mor, Model Number R200B and Serial Number PMLR220b003033408) to a waste containment container. Once the employee backed the sanitation, truck up he then got out of the truck and with the assistance of a coworker. The employee went to the left rear of the truck and proceeded to pull down the hook on a Tulsa Winch that was attached to the 25-ft long wire rope on the Tulsa winch system. The employee was emptying the waste containment container into the rear tailgate of the sanitation truck. Employee #1 secured the hook to the clamp that was on the rear of the waste containment container, which was 12-ft in length. Once the wire rope was secured to the waste containment container, the employee went back to the left rear of the sanitation truck, while the coworker was on the right rear side of the vehicle. The coworker pulled down the lever that controls the wench to initiate the containment container in place in order for the trash to be dumped into the tailgate. From this point, the rear of the containment container was being lifted off the ground and in a diagonal position to be dumped into the rear hopper of the tailgate. When it was placed in the appropriate position, Employee #1 climbed onto the left riding step as the containment container was suspended in the air being held up by the wire rope and began to use a raking tool in order to rake the trash that was in the rear of the waste containment container out into the rear tailgate. As Employee #1 was raking the trash out of the rear tailgate, the waste containment container was displaced from the containment latch, as it was not secured to the truck properly. The waste containment container was displaced from the containment latch and it swung around, first hitting the ground and then hitting Employee #1 in the left side of his body, left portion of his head and face, left torso, left leg, and left arm. Employee #1 was transported to an area hospital, where he was treated for skull fracture, a compound fracture to his left arm and a punctured lung. Employee #1 remains hospitalized.

Keywords: WRENCH, FRACTURE, HEAD, ROPE, INTERMODAL CONTAINER, TORSO, TRUCK, TRASH COMPACTOR, FALL, BACKING UP