Man Killed Changing Bulbs in Yorba Linda Shopping Center Sign

A maintenance worker was crushed to death Wednesday morning as he was replacing lightbulbs on a shopping center sign in Yorba Linda, officials said.

Terry Lynn Flammang, 32, of Lakewood was maneuvering himself in the basket of a cherry picker shortly after 8:30 a.m., said Capt. Paul Hunter of the Orange County Fire Authority.

“For some reason, his upper body was crushed between [the basket] and the main frame structure of the sign,” Hunter said. “He was smashed into the sign.”

Authorities said that Flammang, who was married and had a 3-year-old son, was employed by the Day-lite Maintenance Co., which specializes in lighting fixtures for industrial buildings.

Cal/OSHA investigators were at Wednesday’s accident scene and will look into company documents, including training records and possible maintenance and equipment problems, said Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the agency in San Francisco.

“We do not issue citations to compensate for loss of life,” Fryer said. “That would have to be done in a court of law. But what we do cite for is for any violation of the state safety and health regulations.”

Representatives of Day-lite, a 40-year-old company based in Orange, would not comment.

Lt. Douglas Dickerson of the Brea Police Department, which patrols Yorba Linda, said a preliminary investigation revealed that a plastic pipe that secures the sign while work is being done gave way and pinned the worker between the sturdy plastic sign and the boom.

“We’re speculating that this is what happened,” Dickerson said. “It’s a very unusual incident. You almost have to be one of those people that does this kind of work to understand what happened.”

A co-worker on another boom did not see the accident but heard the victim’s cry for help, officials said. “He was able to let out a sound, but it was pretty quick,” Dickerson said. “He did get his partner’s attention.”

The co-worker called 911 and a technical rescue response team was sent, officials said, but Flammang died before paramedics arrived.

The man’s covered body remained suspended 20 feet in the air for a couple of hours as fire officials tried to figure out the best way to retrieve it. Hunter said that the team had to proceed with caution because investigators were not sure what had caused the accident and were concerned that someone else might be harmed by the equipment.

An autopsy will be performed today, Orange County coroner’s officials said.

Eight years ago, Scott Hamblin, 33, a Santa Ana electrician for the same company, was killed in Anaheim when he touched a bare wire inside a fluorescent sign, authorities said.

Fryer of Cal/OSHA said an investigation into the death of Hamblin, who had been employed by Day-lite only a month, resulted in a citation a month later. Officials discovered a required safety program on the hazards of the job had not been established at the business, but no fine was assessed.