Accident: 170401574 - Crushed Between Backhoe Bucket And Outrigger

Employee #1 had gotten off the backhoe he was operating and left the motor running. He was killed when he was struck by the backhoe and crushed between the bucket and outrigger.

backhoe, crushed, unmanned, construction, vehicle in gear, backhoe bucket, outrigger, caught between, work rules, brake by operating cons

Accident: 14225759 - Killed When Head Crushed Under Trailer Ramp

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on November 2, 2000, Employee #1 was helping his employer to unload a Bobcat loader from a lowboy trailer. As the employer was unchaining the Bobcat, he asked Employee #1 to drop the ramps, which he did. The chain on the Bobcat became caught, and the employer concentrated on releasing it and did not notice Employee #1. Another coworker was standing to the right of the trailer watching the employer free the Bobcat. The employer then mounted the Bobcat and said that he was ready to back it off. He looked behind him and did not see Employee #1, so he assumed that he had gone to the office. As the employer began backing up and the rear wheels touched the top of the ramps, the coworker standing to the side screamed for him to stop. Employee #1 was found face down with his head under the right ramp and his feet under the left ramp. He suffered massive multiple fractures and internal injuries to his head, and was killed. There was no indication as to why Employee #1 was in that location.

construction, struck by, trailer, ramp, communication, caught between, head, fracture, off loading

Accident: 126092550 - Leg Fractured By Garbage Truck Mechanism

At approximately 12:36 p.m. on September 18, 2000, Employee #1 climbed a waste collection truck to retrieve some waste paper from the space between the driver's cab and the vehicle's waste storage unit. He inadvertently touched the armlift activator and he became pinned. The Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics freed him and he was airlifted to UCLA Medical Center. Employee #1's right leg was fractured, his right arm seriously injured, and his lower back bruised.

garbage truck, pinned, fracture, leg, arm, lockout, work rules, caught between

Accident: 801191 - Finger Injured When Caught In Molds

Employee #1, a crane and injection mold operator, was using a crane to move one section of a mold to the other piece. He was preparing to put the two pieces together when the crane moved about 12 ft and the two sections of mold came together, catching his right hand. Employee #1 sustained crushing injuries to his right little finger.

crane, crane operator, mold, caught between, crushed, finger, mech mat handling, work rules

Accident: 101571446 - Killed When Crushed By Falling Tanker Trailer

At approximately 11:30 a.m. on September 7, 2000, Employee #1 and the company co-owner were called to a scene where one of their truck drivers was delivering hot emulsion material to a construction site. The tanker became detached from the tractor, and he called the company office to report this incident because the tanker was blocking an active street. A tow service was called to help lift the front of the tanker so that it could be place back on the tractor. It was decided that the tanker was to heavy to lift and that some of the emulsion would need to be removed. A coworker and the co-owner drove to the site with a second tanker, which was going to be used to off-load the damaged tanker. After about half of the contents of the damaged tanker had been emptied, a tow truck attempted to lift the front end so the hot emulsion would flow out the rear outlet. For this process, 4-by-4 wood blocks were placed between the pavement and the tanker to "crib" it. Once the blocks were in place, Employee #1 decided to crawl on his stomach with a chain to try and secure the crane to the fifth wheel pin. As he was crawling under the tanker, his coworkers called, "Don't go under there." The tanker collapsed onto Employee #1 and he sustained multiple injuries, from which he died a short time later.

falling object, crushed, trailer truck, tank truck, blocks, caught between, work rules, unstable position

Accident: 14318778 - Killed When Head Crushed By Gantry Crane

At approximately 1:49 a.m. on September 5, 2000, Employee #1 was working on the K-1 fixture at the Ford line, the start of the frame assembly for a pickup truck. He was relieving a coworker who had been operating the fixture at the northeast corner, and he was one of four employees to operate this machine. The workers installed rivets and crossmembers at key locations in the frame. After each worker installed approximately four rivets, they would retreat to a palm button station at each corner of the machine. Each station incorporated two palm buttons and a red stop button; three of the four employees had to depress their buttons and hold them in while the fourth operator depressed his buttons and became the trigger man. When the fourth employee depressed his buttons, the circuit was closed and a gantry crane on a monorail was signaled to descend and grasp the steel frame with four claws and carry it to another position to be worked on. The area around the truck frame was partially protected by a light curtain that angled away from the frame table. After Employee #1's coworker returned to the K-1 fixture, he stepped up on to the work platform and put on his left glove first. The operator at the north-west corner immediately across from Employee #1 and his coworker had just finished putting in his rivets and was standing at his palm buttons. Employee #1 was installing his last rivet, which required him to bend over the frame at an angle and place his head in close proximity to the frame. At this time, the gantry crane descended, traveling at 36 in. per second and covering the 48 in. in 1.5 seconds. Employee #1's head was pinched against the steel frame by one of the lifting claws. The machine then became locked in position, continuing to push his head against the steel frame. The machine shut down because the light curtain was broken by coworkers reaching in to help Employee #1, and at the same time one of the operators depressed his emergency STOP button. Employee #1 died of crushing injuries to his head. At the time of the accident, another operator was working at the southeast corner to the left of Employee #1. He had just come back from getting a crossmember and was placing in on the ground getting ready for the next frame; he was not on his palm buttons when the gantry descended. The other operator was at the southwest corner, had finished his rivets, and was depressing and holding his buttons when the crane came down. Only one of the four palm button stations was depressed at the time of the accident, and the light curtain was showing green for go. Subsequent examination of the light curtain determined that there was a dead zone between the curtain and the frame of the machine. At the lowest level, 24 inches were not covered by the light curtain; at the hip area, the distance increased to 31 inches. Immediately following the accident, the company installed another light curtain that covered all the dead zones missed by the original curtain.

caught between, crushed, head, work rules, communication, gantry crane, light curtain, work rules, hand control

Accident: 898734 - Killed When Caught Between Elevator And Shaft

On August 30, 2000, Employee #1 was in the elevator lobby on the tenth floor of a local government office building, awaiting an elevator at the end of her work shift. She and a coworker were standing next to elevator #6 when the doors opened and two people stepped out of the darken spacer. Employee #1 apparently was not looking at the elevator when it arrived and, when she turned to go inside, the elevator had already started down. She fell into the elevator shaft on top of the elevator, and the doors immediately closed. Employee #1 became partially wedged in a 6 in. space between the top of the elevator and the front of the elevator shaft . She was killed. When the elevator doors were open, the top of the elevator was approximately 38 in. below the 10th floor. The elevator safety devices were not functioning properly because the car was not supposed to move from the landing with the doors open. Employee #1 was not engaged in the operations leading to this accident.

elevator, elevator shaft, caught between, mech malfunction, door, inattention, fall

Accident: 170205157 - Fingertip Amputated By Falling Pipe Casing

At approximately 11:36 a.m. on August 8, 2000, Employee #1 was working as a laborer/grout plant operator for Northwest Cascade, Inc. He was assigned by his foreman to set an 8 ft piece of 5 in. casing inside a 7 5/8 in. micropile, using #9 wire and a 2-by-4 to hold the pipe. As Employee #1 was pulling the pipe up and down, the casing slipped past the coupler and slammed down, pinching his finger between the wire and the 2-by-4. The ring finger on his right hand was amputated at the lower end of the fingernail. Employee #1 was transported to Davies Hospital for treatment.

construction, amputated, falling object, slip, unsecured, finger, caught between, struck by

Accident: 14373633 - Killed Between Conduit Reel And Bulldozer Arm

Employee #1 and five coworkers were loading 2 to 9 ft in diameter conduit reels onto the deployment arms of a bulldozer. They had wrapped a chain around one reel and the excavator operator began lifting it when a second reel, which was standing on end next to the first, fell over. Employee #1 became pinned between the conduit reel and the deployment arms of the bulldozer, and was killed. All of the reels were standing on end and, because of space constraints, they were placed on the grade to the highway exit ramp. This meant they were sitting at an angle and leaning toward the employees.

construction, caught between, overturn, slope, work rules, loading, bulldozer, unstable position, unstable load, mech mat handling

Accident: 784728 - Killed When Crushed In Transfer Conveyor

At approximately 9:45 a.m. on July 21, 2000, Employee #1 was operating a transfer conveyor that jogged up and down to move lumber. A scrap of wood became jammed in the machine and he reached through the framework of the conveyor to clear it and to activate the machine's switch. The conveyor raised up and caught the midsection of Employee #1's body. He sustained crushing injuries and died the following day during surgery.

conveyor, jammed, work rules, caught between, crushed, abdomen