Sixty-three-year-old Matt Petrasich was found dead Monday morning atop a cargo container on the Panamanian-flagged Ever Deluxe ship. His body was spotted by a crane operator, said a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
Petrasich, who had worked the docks for 40 years, was a "hatch boss" who was supervising a work crew unloading cargo aboard the ship when he died, said port spokeswoman Sheila Gonzales.
The death was being investigated by Cal-OSHA and federal OSHA officials.
Petrasich was "doing more than he should" due to cutbacks on foremen on the docks, said Danny Miranda, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 94.
In a separate incident, foreman Cody Bates, 43, suffered serious leg injuries when a forklift struck him. He was treated and released at a nearby hospital.
Conce P. Campbell, 52, died last Wednesday in a switching accident on Terminal Island after slipping under a Burlington Northern and Santa Fe cargo train. Campbell, the father of seven adopted children, died at the scene.