Silverline Construction, Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Jul 26, 2012: Worker's thumb is amputated by falling particle boards

At 8:30 a.m. on July 26, 2012, Employee #1 was working for a general contractor with over fifty years of experience in construction. The employer was engaged in design, build, and construction management services. It specialized in commerci al, agricultural, industrial, and residential construction. Employee #1 had join ed the company on July 2, 2012. He attended once a week safety meetings conducte d at the job site. He did not receive specific safety training on the subject of assisting during the loading of material. Employee #1 and a coworker had been a ssigned by a foreman to pick up 17 sheets of particle board in a storage yard. T he coworker was operating a JLG Model Number 10054 Skytrak aerial lift, with Ser ial Number 0160044376, to pick up the particle board. First, the coworker used o ne fork to push the top 17 particle boards off the rest of the stack. Then he us ed one fork to lift the corner of these particle boards. Employee #1 was asked t o put a 2-inch by 4-inch by 20-inch (50-millimeter by 100-millimeter by 0.51-met er) piece of scrap lumber underneath the top 17 sheets at the center of the part icle boards. This was being done so that forks could later go underneath the boa rds and raise them. When Employee #1 stuck his hand under the boards to adjust t he scrap lumber, the 17 sheets of particle boards slammed down on his hand. The load slipped and fell on Employee #1's hands, causing finger injuries. His thumb was crushed and amputated, and his index and middle fingers were injured as wel l. Factors contributing to the accident included failure to balance the load and failure to brace and secure it to prevent it from tipping and falling (Title 8 3650 (l). The incident was reported to the DOSH Los Angeles office by the employ er at 9:37 a.m. that same day.