Casual Longshoreworker Struck By Falling Supersack In Mid-Stream Ship’s Hold [LaPlace. LA ~ 25 June 2016]

Posted by admin on Dec 10, 2016 in Bulletins

A temporary worker employed as a longshoreman by Cooper Consolidated, LLC aboard a vessel moored on the Mississippi River at LaPlace, Louisiana was killed in an industrial accident on June 25, 2016, when a loaded intermediate bulk container (a “supersack”) became disengaged from a cargo hook during midstream discharge operations.

From sources close to the investigation, Blueoceana Company has learned that Braulio Reyna came out the protection offered by a hatch wing at the moment the eye lifting handle of the supersack became disengaged from the cargo hook during its hoisting out of the ship. The super sack dropped into the hatch, striking him.

Preliminary findings theorize that the supersack’s eye handle had not been placed into the throat of the cargo hook, but had rather been put onto the hook’s tip.

OSHA has conducted its investigation, the results of which are presently being awaited. By statute, the agency has 6 months after the conclusion of the inspection to issue any alleged violations.