On Thursday, April 27, 2006 at 8:25 a.m., two Companies of Los Angeles firefighters, one LAFD rescue ambulance, one EMS battalion captain and one battalion chief officer command team, under the direction of Acting Battalion Chief Glenn Zink, responded to a Civilian Worksite Fatality on Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) property near 11390 South Pershing Drive in Los Angeles.
Firefighters arrived quickly and were directed to a remote temporary access road being utilized by a contract construction crew involved with an airport lighting and fencing improvement project at the far west end of the 3,425 acre facility.
Firefighters subsequently discovered an adult male worker trapped beneath an asphalt compactor. According to witnesses, the 61 year-old man, an employee of Excel Paving, had been operating the vehicle when it suddenly overturned, trapping his head against the ground beneath the safety cage that enclosed the operator’s control station.
Despite the quick response of LAFD personnel, the man sustained traumatic head injuries incompatible with life. He was declared deceased at the scene.
There were no other injuries.
City of Los Angeles Crisis Response Team volunteers provided on-site emotional support and guidance to the decedent’s coworkers, while firefighters utilized heavy-lift air cushions to assist coroners’ officials with removing the man from beneath the compactor.
LAX officials have confirmed that this incident, at a remote an inaccessible location of the airport, would have no direct effect on passengers or aviation operations.
The Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles International Airport Police Department each responded to the scene and will assist the coroner’s office in their efforts to positively identify the man, as well as determine the precise cause, exact time and manner of his death.
Questions regarding the presence, need or operator’s use of a seat belt, helmet or other safety systems remains within the purview of Cal-OSHA officials, who are investigating this incident as a worksite fatality.