A mechanic performing maintenance on an Evergreen Marine
Corp. crane at a Port of Oakland terminal died Oct. 24 after being caught in
and crushed by a piece of equipment.
The 51-year-old victim, whose name was not immediately
released, suffered major head and chest injuries about 9:30 am at the Ben E.
Nutter terminal, according to Peter Melton, a spokesman for the California
Division of Occupational Safety and Health, the state governmental body commonly
known as Cal/OSHA.
The unidentified man had been working at Berth 37, which is
operated by Evergreen Marine Corp. of Taiwan. He was transported to Summit
Medical Center, where he later died.
A longshoreman who didn’t want to be identified told a local
NBC news affiliate that the worker was up on the crane about 250 feet when the
trolley moved and he was crushed between the cable and the body of the crane.
The unidentified worker was a crane mechanic and a member of
the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, according to
the port.
The Nutter terminal was shut down for the day and workers
sent home while local agencies and Cal/OSHA conducted an investigation.
According to Cal/OSHA records, this was the first fatal
accident at the Port of Oakland in at least five years.
