A Warehouse Worker Dies After Falling from an Order Picker Forklift - California

Details

• Journal Article:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Personal Author:
  Zubieta, Ingrid
• Corporate Authors:
  California Department of Public Health
• Description:
  On Sep 15, 2023, a 45-year-old male warehouse worker (the victim) at a warehouse and distribution center was fatally injured after falling from the platform of an order picker forklift. The victim was operating the order picker to check an item from a shelving rack three levels up. The victim was working by himself and was not wearing fall protection. A co-worker in a nearby aisle heard a sound and ran to the area where they found the victim lying on the concrete floor. The victim was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries 17 days later. Contributing factors: Failure to ensure proper use of fall protection, inspect equipment, and correct unsafe work practices; Lack of written policies and procedures on how to safely operate forklifts and use fall protection; No forklift training or certification program; Lack of audible or visual alarms on forklifts to indicate when an employee is not tied-off. Recommendations - California FACE (CA/FACE) investigators determined that, in order to prevent similar incidents, warehouses & distribution centers and forklift manufacturers should: 1) Ensure that all order picker forklift operators receive training and adequate supervision to always use fall protection when working at heights. 2) Integrate fall protection warning devices that will activate audible and visual alarms if the operator is not tied-off while working at heights.
• Subjects:
  Falls Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Region 9; Fatalities; Injury prevention; Traumatic injuries; Safety practices; Warehousing; Falls; Fall protection; Safety equipment; Forklifts; Warning devices
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  All (0000) ; Falls (0007) ; Machine General (0015)
• Source:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 23CA006, 2025 Apr; :1-9
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  10.26616/NIOSHSFACE23CA006
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; West Virginia ; San Francisco Region [OSHA] ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  9 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071998
• Contact Point Address:
  California Department of Public Health, Occupational Health Branch, 850 Marina Bay Parkway, P-3, Richmond, CA 94804
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  54 - Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services - (NAICS 2022) ; 541614 - Process, Physical Distribution, and Logistics Consulting Services - (NAICS 2022)
• Start Date:
  20050701
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9c8ccb0111d67be28758791b0276c3e603ec70d34d4316c1c19f9a92c8cf170ecc2c267b23cea4553d724650a6eff4cab4d2dee7aad2e55b7169530ff3dd73eb
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/258866/cdc_258866_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.50 MB ]