Zip line worker’s ‘senseless’ death in California may have been preventable, feds say
The death of a California zip line worker in October might have been preventable, the U.S. Department of Labor said in a March 10 statement.
An Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation said that the fall could have been prevented if the zip line operator implemented better safety measures, the release said.
Joaquin Romero, 34, died after trying to help a customer who had just finished a zip line course at La Jolla Zip Zoom Zipline at the La Jolla Indian Reservation in Pauma Valley, NBC San Diego reported.
The investigation found that Romero grabbed a customer’s harness to steady them after they landed on the tower platform. Then, the two were pulled from the zip line tower, the Department of Labor said.
Romero let go of the harness and fell about 50 feet to the ground, the statement said.
Cal Fire crews then lifted Romero in a rescue basket and airlifted him to a hospital, authorities told The San Diego Union-Tribune. He died two days later, the outlet reported.
Inspectors said La Jolla Zip Zoom Zipline “failed to install a guardrail, safety net or personal fall arrest system.” The company also failed to train employees on fall hazards and how to recognize them, did not assess the workplace for hazards, and did not report a work-related hospitalization within 24 hours, as they were required to, the statement said.
“If they had simply provided the proper protective equipment, this senseless tragedy could have been prevented,” Derek Engard, OSHA’s area director in San Diego, said in the statement.
The company was cited for four serious safety violations, and OSHA proposed that the company pay penalties of $24,861.
The zip line operators have 15 days to respond to OSHA or challenge their findings, the Department of Labor said.
La Jolla Zip Zoom Zipline did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on March 14. The company’s website says the zip line is closed “as we are conducting a thorough investigation,” and that the attraction will reopen after its conclusion.
The attraction features zip line courses ranging from 300 to 2,700 feet that go up to 55 miles per hour, the company said on its website. It claims to host the longest zip line in Southern California.
La Jolla Indian Reservation is about 56 miles north of San Diego.
This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Zip line worker’s ‘senseless’ death in California may have been preventable, feds say."