2 men charged in employee’s forklift death

The owner and a manager at a lumber supply company in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and workplace safety violations in the 2016 death of an employee who was crushed by a forklift, prosecutors said Monday.

Alfred Lee, owner of Good View Roofing and Building Supply Corp., and his manager, 44-yearold Alan Chan, were charged May 1 by the San Francisco district attorney’s office in the death of 60-year-old forklift operator Hua Quing Ruan.

Lee, 65, and Chan each face one count of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of causing an unsafe work environment resulting in death. They surrendered to police on Friday and were each released on $50,000 bail. Lee and Chan did not immediately return phone calls Monday.

Ruan was killed just before 2 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2016, when his forklift tipped over at the bottom of a ramp leading from the company’s loading dock. He had been descending the ramp with a bag of mortar mix on a wooden pallet to load into a customer’s car, when the bag fell off and blocked his front wheel, according to state workplace safety regulators at Cal/OSHA.

When Ruan tried to back up to free the wheel, he rolled off the ramp, officials said. Prosecutors reviewed video evidence of the accident and determined Ruan tried to jump to safety as his forklift began tilting over, but just as he jumped, he was hit by the forklift and crushed. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ruan was not wearing a seat belt, which investigators determined was a factor in his death. He was also not certified to operate the forklift, according to Cal/OSHA. Officials said the ramp was in violation of state workplace safety regulations because it should have had a curb to prevent the forklift from going over the side.

“When employers take workplace safety shortcuts, it’s employees that suffer,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “Life is far too precious to dispense with fundamental safety requirements.”

Lee and Chan are scheduled for arraignment in San Francisco Superior Court on June 5.

Cal/OSHA cited Good View Roofing and Building Supply Corp. in April 2017 with six violations related to the death, seeking penalties of $62,320. Lee has appealed the citations.