Wal-Mart Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Jun 15, 2007: Employee fractures foot in fall from ladder

On June 15, 2007, an employee fractured her foot while descending a 6-foot A-fra me metal ladder. She missed a step, lost her balance, and fell approximately thr ee feet to the concrete floor pulling the ladder down on top of her. While she w as on the floor waiting for help to arrive she noticed that one of the rubber sa fety shoes was missing from the footing on the left. The left leg facing the lad der was also slightly bent. The ladder was immediately taken out of service. It is not know if the ladder was bent before the accident possibly contributing to the accident or was bent as the result of the accident. The employee stated that she was in a hurry and did not check the ladder before she used it. During the investigation all of the ladders were inspected and several were pulled out of s ervice with defects and missing parts. The employee was hospitalized and treated for a fractured foot.

Incident on Feb 22, 2006: Employee's lung is punctured in fall

Employee #1 and a coworker were instructed to retrieve cases of shoes from the w arehouse area of the store. They used a 7.5-foot step ladder to access the stock on the shelves. Employee #1 climbed from the ladder to the top shelf of the rac k that was 9-feet high from where she passed boxes down to her coworker. The siz e of the case boxes varied depending on the shoe size and design. As Employee #1 began to come down from the shelf, she put her foot on what she thought was a s tep of the ladder. She actually stepped onto a cardboard box on a lower shelf wh ich collapsed under her weight. She fell approximately 4.5 feet. Employee #1 was hospitalized for treatment of two broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Incident on Oct 7, 2004: Employee's leg and knee are fractured in fall from ladder

At approximately 10:45 a.m. on October 7, 2004, Employee #1, a Wal-Mart cashier, was cleaning up boxes in a storage area prior to the store's grand opening. He was on a 4-ft, type IA, aluminum stepladder (Johnson Model Number 205104WM) plac ed at a right angle to the steel storage racks. As Employee #1 was passing a lon g box down to a coworker, one end of the box opened. While attempting to contain the box contents, Employee #1 lost his balance and fell. His left leg became en tangled in the ladder rungs, causing fractures of his lower leg and knee. Employ ee #1 was hospitalized at Grossmont Hospital, where he was treated for a tibia p atellar fracture and had surgery to install plates in his lower leg and knee. Th e ladder was inspected following the accident, and was found to be brand new, wi th slip resistant feet. The ladder was rated at 300 lbs; however, Employee #1 we ighed over 400 lbs.