ANAHEIM : Worker Is Killed by Rock Crusher

A 20-year-old Norco man was killed when he slipped down a chute into a rock crusher used at a Gypsum Canyon mining plant.

Owl Rock Products Co. employee Douglas A. Ruff was crushed to death Wednesday night as he was cleaning out an area near the top of the four-story machine, used to split rocks into materials such as sand and gravel, Orange County Fire Capt. Dan Young said.

Young said that when firefighters arrived, about 8:50 p.m., they found Ruff trapped under water that had risen above a corkscrew crushing device. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was the third accident at an Orange County industrial site since April. Two construction workers died in separate accidents in Mission Viejo when trenches caved in over them.

An inspector from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigates industrial accidents, spent Wednesday night and much of Thursday trying to determine the circumstances of the accident.

It is believed that Ruff was using a shovel to knock off a piece of gravel that was stuck on a ledge when he slipped down the chute, said Byron Ishkanian, a senior mining and tunneling engineer for OSHA’s Van Nuys office.

OSHA investigators are trying to determine whether Ruff was working on the machine under proper safety guidelines. The crusher was apparently running as Ruff was cleaning it, Young said.

“The other workers told us it was a routine procedure,” he said.

According to OSHA investigators, rocks are mined at the site and then loaded onto conveyor belts that carry them to the top of the machine.

The rocks are then sent down a chute into the crusher and placed in piles for transport to construction sites. Water is normally used as a lubricant and to cool the machine, Young said.

Officials at Owl Rock Products Co., which is based in Arcadia, had no comment.