A worker at a Global Industrial distribution center in Buford died this week after being pinned between a truck and a loading ramp, the Gwinnett Daily Post reported. Gwinnett County police and paramedics were called to the facility on Mill Center Parkway on Wednesday evening after a report of a person down. They found the employee, identified as Ernest Appau, dead from injuries sustained on the job.
A police report describes an employee telling a supervisor that one of the pickers was down at a work station. The supervisor found Appau pinned between a truck and the loading deck, lifted the ramp and pulled him clear before attempting first aid. Emergency medical technicians who arrived on scene determined that he had died. Police reviewed surveillance footage from the facility, and a master police officer told the Daily Post there were no indications of foul play at that time. The Gwinnett County medical examiner is involved in the case.
Gwinnett County sits inside one of the largest warehouse and distribution clusters in the Southeast, a corridor that keeps steady truck traffic moving through the northeast side of metro Atlanta. Loading dock incidents involving trucks and trailers remain a recurring source of serious injury across the sector. Common controls include wheel chocks, trailer restraints, dock lock systems and communication procedures that hold a vehicle stationary while workers stand between a trailer and the dock face. Federal workplace safety investigators typically open an inquiry after a fatality at a covered site.
Source: Gwinnett Daily Post - https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/local/distribution-center-worker-crushed-on-job-dies-from-injuries/article_52615024-bde6-4bcd-8237-5b11e5afe951.html