Worker hit and killed by SF city truck in the Bayview

The scene at Newcomb Avenue and Quint Street in San Francisco's Bayview where a worker was struck and killed by a city truck on Aug. 28, 2014. The scene at Newcomb Avenue and Quint Street in San Francisco's Bayview where a worker was struck and killed by a city truck on Aug. 28, 2014. Photo: Hamed Aleaziz, The Chronicle Photo: Hamed Aleaziz, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Worker hit and killed by SF city truck in the Bayview 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

A San Francisco Department of Public Works garbage truck struck and killed a crew member Thursday morning, city officials said.

The accident was reported just after 9 a.m., while the crew was cleaning up trash dumped illegally on streets in the Bayview area.

A few crew members were near a garbage truck when the vehicle hit and killed one of the workers on Quint Street between Newcomb and Jerrold avenues, said Mindy Talmadge, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Fire Department.

Alvin Andrews, 52, of San Francisco was pronounced dead at the scene, an industrial stretch of the city near a railway bridge and the yard used by San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Water Department maintenance crews.

Two Water Department employees witnessed the incident and tried to resuscitate Andrews. The two employees were "pretty shaken up" and left the scene with their clothes covered in blood, said Tyrone Jue, a utilities commission spokesman.

The 50-year-old driver of the garbage truck has been a Department of Public Works employee for almost two months, department spokeswoman Rachel Gordon said. He worked on an as-needed basis. City officials have not released his name.

The driver and Andrews were part of a four-man crew that was on a regular route cleaning up illegal dumping in the southeast part of the city, Director of Public Works Mohammed Nuru said.

Two crew members, including the driver, were public works employees, while the two others, including Andrews, were part-time general assistance workers who join public works crews as a condition of receiving welfare, Nuru said.

From preliminary information from his staff at the scene, Nuru said it appeared Andrews had been on the opposite side of the truck from the driver, slipped and was run over.

The initial report from Cal/OSHA, the state's workplace safety regulator, was that the victim was picking up refuse adjacent to the garbage truck when the truck pulled forward, pulling him under the back wheels. The agency is opening an investigation into the city's Department of Public Works, said Kathleen Hennessy, a Cal/OSHA spokeswoman.

'Sad, very, very said'

It's unclear how long the four-man crew had been working together.

"It's just sad, very, very sad," Nuru said. "Any time there is an accident - and a fatal accident - in the type of work that we do, it rings a bell through the whole organization. We are reminding people to be cautious and safe. We are reinforcing all of our safety training and asking people ... to be calm."

San Francisco police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said it appeared the victim somehow went from the sidewalk to being run over by the truck. Esparza said police spoke with witnesses from a second crew behind the truck. They also spoke with a passenger in the truck as well as the driver.

The driver will be tested for drugs and alcohol as part of standard procedure in accidents, Nuru said. General assistance workers who participate on public works crews are given training by the Department of Public Works, but the type and duration of the training provided to Andrews was not immediately available.

San Francisco has 6,500 single adults who receive welfare benefits under its County Adult Assistance Programs, according to the city's Human Services Agency. They receive $444 a month in welfare benefits.

Job component

There is a job component as a condition of that public assistance, which can be satisfied by participating in job training, job search programs or community service by working about six hours per week for certain city departments.

About 450 people have opted for the community service work, known as workfare, picking up trash for the Department of Public Works, doing cleanup for the Recreation and Park Department, helping with laundry at San Francisco General Hospital, and cleaning up and removing graffiti from Muni buses, according to the Human Services Agency.

Those welfare recipients are covered under the city workers' compensation provisions, city officials said.

The fatality comes less than a year after a Recreation and Park Department pickup truck ran over and killed a woman as she sunbathed on the grass at a Bernal Heights park with her 11-month-old baby on Sept. 5.

Last month, the Recreation and Park Commission voted to pay Christine Svanemyr's widower and child, Vegar and Isa Svanemyr, a $15.1 million settlement. The Board of Supervisors is expected to take up the settlement in September.

The pickup driver, parks gardener Thomas Burnoski, was fired in November and faces charges of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run.