Mr. Little was standing on an articulated gangway that accommodated large changes in freeboard height on bulk storage ships as they loaded and unloaded in the Redwood City Port.  This gangway was in midair and cantilevered from it access tower.  The gangway collapsed unexpectedly, and Mr. Little fell to his death.

We reconstructed this accident and analyzed the failure.  We determined that the gangway had not been designed or built to handle the load of a man standing on it while it was not supported at both ends.  We also determined that the plans & specifications used to fabricate the tower were never completed or approved by the design engineer.