Author - Brewski
Submitted By -Pipe bundle falls-worker killed May 20, 1999
A warehouse worker died Wednesday after a bundle of steel piping weighing about one ton fell on him as he was unloading it from a trailer, in the front lot of the Crescent Electric Supply Co., located in Fairbanks, Alaska. It sounds like the weight shifted on him as he cut the last band and it came down on top of him. He apparently was starting to unload a trailer piled with four tiers of electrical conduits of varying sizes. Only one bundle of pipes had been stacked on the highest level, which may have shifted downward and dislodged a lower bundle after He snipped metal bands holding the cargo in place. It is customary for workers to unload trailers by first placing a forklift under a pallet, then severing any binding. The forklift beside the trailer faced sideways and apparently had not been used. The piping, which fell about 10 feet contained 25 steel pipes 10 feet long and 3[1/2] inches in diameter, would have weighed about 2,000 pounds. Brewski