Williams Tank Lines: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on May 12, 2004: Employee injures foot when ran over by tanker

At approximately 5:48 a.m. on May 12, 2004, Employee #1, a trainee-driver, was w orking with another coworker, a trainer driver, on Lane Number 2 of a gas tanker facility. A truck driver had backed his tanker into the gas tanker facility to load the tanker with gasoline and diesel fuel. The trainer-driver unhooked the f ront hose of the tanker as Employee #1 unconnected the rear hose. When Employee #1 unhooked the rear hose, he stepped out of Lane Number 2 and into Lane Number 3. In Lane Number 3, a filled tanker was pulling out of the station and struck E mployee #1 in his foot. The tanker ran over the back of his right foot, causing serious injuries. He was transported to a medical center, where he received medi cal attention and was hospitalized for postoperative treatment of his injured fo ot.

Incident on Mar 23, 2004: Employee is injured when run over by truck

At 3:30 a.m. on March 23, 2004, Employee #1, a truck driving trainee working for William Tank Lines, was receiving training sessions at the employer's terminal in Long Beach, CA. The employer was a petroleum tanker truck line and it trained drivers with at least one year of verifiable large rig over-the-road trucking p ractice. Experienced drivers were assigned as trainers to ride along with traine es. The terminal was used as a staging area where trucks were kept, cleaned, and prepared for runs. Trucks being cleaned or serviced for trial runs were parked in one or two lines to the south of the main office. There was no established mi nimum distance requirement between the two lines of trucks. At the time of the i ncident, the first coworker was assisting his trainee, Employee #1, in preparing a Peterbilt tractor with dual tankers (company Number 91) for a trial run. The vehicle was parked on the left side of that morning's two-row arrangement, close to the main office. The second coworker, a trainer operating a Peterbilt tracto r (Model Number 379 and company Number 2027) that was hauling two tankers, drove around the office and parked at the head of the line on the right side to pick up his trainee. As a result, the second coworker's tractor was parked beside Emp loyee #1's rig. When the second coworker had picked up his trainee, he set the t ractor in motion once again. Employee #1 was located in front of his rig and his trainer was closing a side of their tractor's engine cover. The second coworker said that he looked in his left rearview mirror and saw Employee #1 and then lo oked at his right rearview mirror in order to maneuver the vehicle to avoid seve ral parked cars. When we looked at his left rearview mirror again, he saw Employ ee #1 lying on the ground between the front and rear tires of his back tanker (N umber 9928). The second coworker immediately stopped the tractor. The first cowo rker said that he did not see what happened at the moment Employee #1 fell under the wheels, but that he did hear a thump and screamed to warn the second cowork er to stop his vehicle. A manager assessed Employee #1's condition and sent for paramedics. Employee #1 suffered a crushed pelvis and a fractured clavicle. He w as taken to the Long Beach Memorial Hospital for rehabilitation. Employee #1 doe s not recall anything that happened prior to him performing preliminary truck ch ecks.