Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Longshore Worker Killed at POLA

By Mark Edward Nero

The Everport Terminal at the Port of Los Angeles was temporarily closed for a time on March 31 after a longshore worker was killed in an industrial accident at the port.

The worker, a 71-year-old man, had been working in a staging area at Berths 226-236 within the Everport Terminal on Terminal Island when, according to a port spokesman, the worker was run over by a tractor trailer around 2:45 pm.

Also according to the port, the victim had been working in the area where truck chassis queue up to load containers being removed from cargo ships for delivery.

The man’s name and other details have yet to be publicly released.

The Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) is investigating the incident along with port police, but it is being looked at solely as an accident, according to the port.

As is customary in the event of a serious accident on the docks, the terminal was closed down out of respect for the victim after the incident, but reopened later that night.

When contracted, the International Longshore & Warehouse Union had no comment on the incident, citing the in-progress status of the investigation.