Accident: 170205801 - Injured When Pinned By Falling Metal Shield

At approximately 2:30 p.m. on July 14, 1999, Employee #1 was working as a pile buck for FCI Constructors on a freeway seismic retrofit job in San Francisco. They decided to remove the trench shield in an excavation because it was too small. Employee #1 and his foreman had removed three of the four spreaders when the foreman had to step away and left Employee #1 to complete the job. He removed the pins to the last spreader and was headed toward a freeway footing when one of the metal side shields fell, pinning him against the concrete footing. Employee #1 suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis, two spinal fractures, and a crushed bladder.

construction, struck by, fracture, spine, unsecured, pinned, trench box, pelvis, bladder, excavation

Accident: 201030095 - Injured In Fall From Window Opening.

At approximately 12:05 a.m. on February 18, 1996, Employee #1 and coworkers, who worked for a lead abatement contractor, were removing windows from the external walls on the second floor of a post office in a large city. Employee #1 had just removed the panes from one of the 5 ft wide by 10 ft high windows, and was climbing onto the window sill to remove the frame when he fell 20 ft to the concrete building entry. He suffered a ruptured bladder. Employee #1 was not using a safety belt and lanyard, or any other form of fall protection equipment.

construction, dismantling, fall, fall protection, safety belt, lanyard, bladder, work rules

Accident: 170380786 - Injured When Crushed By Falling Steel Plate

Employee #1, a summer laborer at a tennis court under construction, was landing a suspended 8 ft by 12 ft by 1 in. trench plate from the bucket of a construction tractor. He was inappropriately within arm's reach of the trench plate. The steel trench plate, supplied by Trench Plate Rental Co., #1564004, fell from its rigging. Employee #1 required hospitalization for treatment of crushing injuries to his bladder and pelvis.

construction, falling object, steel plate, struck by, crushed, bladder, pelvis, work rules

Accident: 170568430 - Toe Amputated In Tire Curing Press

Employee #1 was improperly removing a tire from the curing mold. He was standing in the mold when the bladder collapsed, amputating the tip of one toe and a toenail.

work rules, tire, molding machine, amputated, toe, bladder, collapse

Accident: 170743033 - Injured When Run Over By Scraper

At approximately 11:00 a.m., Employee #1, of Roseburg Paving Co., Roseburg, OR, was behind a scraper marking grade on a new road that was being built for a new housing development. When he noticed that the scraper was traveling backward in his direction, he attempted to climb onto an elevated grade (sidewalk area) to get out of the way. As Employee #1 stepped onto the next grade, his foot slipped and part of his body was run over by the scraper's right rear tire. He suffered a fractured pelvis, a crushed bladder, a broken leg, and other injuries to his right lower extremity.

construction, scraper, slip, fall, run over, fracture, pelvis, crushed, leg, bladder

Accident: 14353544 - Struck And Killed By A Flying Piece Of Steel Bar

After discovering that the semi-trailer had a flat right rear tire, Employee #1 chose to use an old air spring to jack the truck. (An air spring is a bladder device that expands in an up/down movement depending on applied air pressure. The air spring is used on the rear of some semi-trailers to give a softer ride.) Employee #1 placed two 4 by 4s on the floor, placed the air spring on the 4 by 4s, and then placed two pieces of 1 in. thick by 2 1/2 in. wide steel bar stock on top of the air spring. For a valve to fill the bladder, the employee installed a power take-off valve that had no provision to regulate the amount of air entering the bladder. When the valve was activated, 175 lb of air pressure was instantly released into the bladder, causing the bladder to expand and slam upward into the bottom area of the trailer. The steel bar stock flew out and one piece hit Employee #1 in the head. He died.

tractor trailer, repair, air spring, high pressure, bladder, inflating, flying object, steel, struck by, work rules

Accident: 170118624 - Injured When Struck By Moving Pipe

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on March 13, 1992, Employee #1 was using a backhoe with cables to guide an 8 in. steel sewer pipe under an existing pipe in a trench. A wall outside the trench box collapsed, hitting the 14 ft long pipe. The swing reaction caused the pipe to hit Employee #1 in the stomach and knock him into the trench shield. The impact burst his bladder, and he was hospitalized.

construction, struck by, pipe, collapse, wall, equipment failure, bladder