(L.A.) Ricardo Galindo, 55, Died in a Cargo Container

Case Number: 2020-07060

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 55-year-old Latin American male that occurred in a cargo container.

The coroner’s office has identified the man as Ricardo Galindo, resident of Inglewood.

Manner of Death: Accident

Cause of Death: Multiple Blunt-Force Injuries

RIP RICARDO GALINDO (December 27, 1964 – August 5, 2020)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Wednesday at 7:00 a.m.

The decedent was fatally injured when he was pinned between two trailers at an industrial transportation company on Terminal Island.

Incident Location: Business
300 Ferry Street
Pacific 9 Transportation
San Pedro, California 90731

OSHA Report

At approximately 6:20 a.m. on Wednesday, August 5, 2020, an employee was working for an intermodal freight transport company or trucking carrier. He picked up and drove semi-trailer truck number P9032 into the firm’s yard. He located shipping container number BMOU3075767. He backed his truck into the chassis and secured it to the fifth wheel mechanism, located at the rear of the truck. He stepped out of the truck cabin to attach the red and blue air lines to the chassis along with the electric cable. Once these were securely connected, the employee walked around the truck to get access to the crank of the landing gear legs. Either he did not apply the brakes, or the brakes were ineffective. As the landing gear legs retracted up off the ground, the truck and chassis rolled backward and sideways toward the employee. The employee was caught in between the moving chassis container and another stationary container located behind him. He was ultimately pinned between these two containers. A coworker, who was working nearby, discovered the employee pinned between the two containers and immediately entered the cabin of truck number P9032. The coworker applied both the trailer air supply brakes and the parking brakes. The employee was crushed between two shipping containers and was killed. He was immediately pronounced dead on the scene.

DOSH learned of this event on Wednesday, August 5, 2020, from an officer of the Los Angeles Port Police, who reported this incident to the Cal/OSHA Long Beach district office. On the same day, the Division held an opening conference with the employer at 9:30 a.m.