Deadly accident leads to $62K fine for supply company

April 25th, 2017 by Dakota Software Staff Industry News

A fatal accident at a building supply company's storage facility led to fines of more than $62,000 for the business from the California branch of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Business Insurance reported an OSHA inspection following the employee's death in late 2016, due to an accident while transporting materials from the warehouse to a customer vehicle, found six serious safety violations. The issues found included a number of concerns related to the incident, such as a lack of proper written safety instructions on work vehicles that were readily understood by all workers and failure to ensure proper use of forklift seatbelts.

The fatal incident
CBS San Francisco reported the incident occurred at a local storage facility in November 2016, and involved the deceased employee using a forklift to bring a load of materials down a ramp. As the worker transported a purchase made by a customer, part of the load dislodged. A bag of mortar mix blocked the vehicle's forward progress. As the employee put the forklift into reverse to maneuver around or avoid the bag and complete the trip, a rear wheel moved off the ramp and the vehicle tipped over. Although the employee attempted to jump free, he was unable to escape the forklift and fatally crushed.

There appeared to be no single health and safety rule violation that directly caused the employee's death. Instead, there were a number of contributing factors.

"This incident could have been prevented had the employer effectively evaluated the workplace for hazards, which would have identified the unguarded edge of the ramp that exposed the forklift to tipping," said Juliann Sum, Cal/OSHA chief, in a statement shared by Business Insurance. "The worker should have been properly trained to stay seated with the seatbelt fastened in the event of a tip over."

The deadly accident's ultimate cause was a host of contributing factors, an important lesson a variety of businesses can learn from to improve employee health and safety. A number of seemingly small lapses in facility safety, such as a lack of proper training with heavy equipment or a failure by staff to regularly use seatbelts, can quickly lead to severe consequences - up to and including the death of an employee. A regular review of compliance with OSHA and internal rules is critical for effective workplace safety.