Truck driver killed in workplace accident

By: KEN MA - Staff Writer | Monday, January 12, 2004 10:02 PM PST ∞

VISTA ---- A 65-year-old truck driver was killed Monday morning when he was struck by a metal beam he had delivered to a building that is being developed into a national golf equipment distribution center, authorities said.

The driver, Tex Ramey of Kingston, Tenn., was killed in the 9:12 a.m. accident at a business complex in the 1300 block of Sycamore Avenue, Vista fire Capt. Les George said.

According to the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Ramey was delivering steel beams to a 120,000-square-foot building that is being developed into a distribution center for the Acushnet Company, which sells Titleist golf balls and Cobra golf clubs.

A beam being unloaded by a forklift fell and struck Ramey, who was standing near his truck, Cal-OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer said. Ramey suffered major head injuries and trauma, George said.

Ramey was unconscious when paramedics arrived. They performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but could not revive him, the fire captain said. He was pronounced dead at 9:41 a.m.

George said several witnesses inside the building heard the accident, but he is uncertain whether there were any eyewitnesses.

Fryer said the cause is under investigation, and Cal-OSHA plans to interview the witnesses, the forklift driver and whoever else was in the building at the time.

The probe, standard procedure following workplace fatalities, will examine the experience level and training of the forklift driver, whether the forklift had a mechanical failure, and how the beams were stacked and banded together on the truck.

It takes an average of two to three months to finish such a probe, Fryer said. If any regulations were violated, penalties could range from several hundred to $25,000.

Contact staff writer Ken Ma at (760) 761-4408 or kma@nctimes.com.

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