Dependable Highway Express, Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Oct 28, 2011 (fatal): Employee is killed while jumping onto moving forklift

On October 28, 2011, Employee #1, with Dependable Highway Express (a warehousing and trucking company) was operating a forklift when he drove off a loading dock and was killed. The investigation determined that Employee #1 had been unloadin g cargo from a container. When he dismounted the forklift momentary, he realized it was still in motion. As he attempted to stop the forklift, he fell approxima tely 4 ft off the dock. The forklift then fell onto Employee #1, pinning him. He was killed.

Incident on Aug 18, 2010: Worker is injured in fall from pallet elevated on forklift

At approximately 8:15 a.m. on August 18, 2010, Employee #1 was working inside a warehouse. He was at the rear of a customer service building, which was an offic e building inside the warehouse. Days before the accident, his supervisor had as ked him to decrease the number of fluorescent light bulbs from the roof, so he h ad removed three consecutive light bulbs and left the fourth one in every row. H e placed the fluorescent light bulbs in trashcans. On August 18, 2010, Employee #1 wanted to bring the trashcans containing the fluorescent light bulbs down to a lower level. He ran into a coworker and asked for his help in bringing the tra shcans down. Employee #1 asked him to get a forklift and elevate a pallet. The c oworker then borrowed a forklift from another coworker and located a pallet with a board on top. The pallet was a tire pallet with a dimension of approximately 53 inches by 65 inches. The tire pallet did not have a bottom deck to secure the pallet into the forks. The coworker elevated the pallet so that it abutted the roof of the building. The roof was approximately 14 feet high. The pallet was no t secured and did not have guardrails. According to the coworker, Employee #1 th en said that he wanted to go down with the trashcans, but the coworker disagreed . The coworker had warned Employee #1 repeatedly not to step on the pallet, but Employee #1 proceeded to pull a trashcan onto one side of the pallet. With Emplo yee #1 riding the pallet, the forklift headed back toward the building. On the w ay back to the building, the pallet tipped over, and Employee #1 fell along with the pallet and trashcan containing the fluorescent light bulbs. He fell approxi mately 14 feet. He sustained a head laceration, a fracture to his cheekbone, and a laceration of his right hand. A second coworker was a witness to the accident and corroborated the first coworker's claim that he had warned Employee #1 to n ot step onto the pallet. Employee #1, however, claimed that he did not hear the warnings, because the bailer was running and there was a lot of noise. He was ta ken to LA County+USC Medical Center and was hospitalized for about three weeks. A Serious accident related citation was issued for not having the proper work pl atform for elevating employees that met the requirements of T8 CCR 3657 (a). The platform was not secured, and it did not have guardrails. A general citation wa s issued for not identifying and evaluating the hazards prior to performing the task of lowering the trashcans to a lower level.

Incident on Feb 20, 2007: Employee is injured in fall from ladder

On February 20, 2007, Employee #1, a trailer mechanic, was repairing the roof of an over-the-road trailer. Employee #1 climbed on a mobile scaffold that was pla ced between two trailers to repair the trailer. Employee #1 repaired the trailer and received approval from his immediate supervisor to lower his tools. Employe e #1 walked to the end of the trailer to climb down. Employee #1 placed his left foot onto the first rung of a so-called built-in ladder with both hands on the vertical uprights, when he fell to the concrete road below. Employee #1 was hosp italized and treated for his injuries.

Incident on Nov 27, 2000: Employee injured when container fell on truck

0n November 27, 2000, Employee #1 was dispatched to pick a container from a cont ainer terminal and to deliver it to a warehouse. After reaching the container te rminal Employee #1 parked his truck in the truck lane and, in accordance with th e terminal's safety instructions, stayed inside his truck and waited for the con tainer to be delivered on to his trailer. A witness was operating Transtainer Nu mber 16 delivering the container to the trailer of Employee #1's truck. Accordin g to the witness, when he picked up the container, the Transtainer's green lock- light was on to indicate that the twist-locks are fully locked; so he continued the container move. When the witness was moving the container towards the truck lane and noticed that the lock-light went off. The witness slowly continued to m ove the container towards the truck lane with the container still on the bridle. Once the container was over the truck chassis, the rear of the container fell o ff the bridle and hit the chassis approximately 12.5 ft from the rear end. The c ontainer front end stayed attached to the bridle until the rear end hit the chas sis at which point the front end also fell off crushing the truck cab. Employee #1, who was sitting in the cab, sustained serious spinal and vertebrae fracture injuries. Employee #1 was hospitalized.