Career Fire Captain Dies When Struck by a Pickup Truck While Working at the Scene of Two Traffic Incidents – California

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lutz, Virginia
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Description:
  Death in the Line of Duty…a Summary of a NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation
  
  On February 29, 2012, a 35-year-old male career Captain (the Victim) was struck and killed by a pickup truck as it slid off of an interstate highway following a hailstorm that had caused numerous motor vehicle crashes. The Victim and a fire fighter were dispatched to an area of the highway where two vehicles had slid off of the roadway in the same location but in two separate incidents. The driver of one of the vehicles, a highway patrol officer, the fire fighter, and the Victim were standing near the roadway to the rear of the parked fire department patrol vehicle when an out-of-control pickup truck slid toward them. The fire fighter ran to the front of the fire patrol vehicle and was not injured. The highway patrol officer suffered injuries from diving to the ground and falling. The Victim and the civilian driver were unable to get out of the truck's path and were struck as the truck rolled down the embankment. The highway patrol officer and the civilian driver were injured and transported to a local medical center. The Victim was transported by ambulance to the local medical center where he was pronounced dead from multiple blunt force trauma. Contributing Factors: 1. Motorist traveling at an excessive speed for the road conditions. 2. Motorist lost control of vehicle while passing a highway emergency scene. 3. Weather / hailstorm resulted in a slippery road surface. 4. Victim's location with respect to out-of-control vehicle. Key Recommendations: 1. Develop, train on, and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) for roadway incidents that include response protocols for all possible types, locations, and durations of emergency roadway incidents that may occur within the department's jurisdiction. 2. Develop pre-incident plans regarding response protocols, scene safety, and traffic control for roadway emergency work zones in conjunction with public safety agencies, traffic management organizations and private sector responders. 3. Ensure that all members receive guidance and training for responding to roadway incidents, with specific instruction on positioning apparatus and personnel to protect emergency workers from oncoming traffic. 4. Develop and train members on a situational awareness program that addresses hazards specific to working at a roadway emergency work zone. 5. Ensure that a thorough scene size-up is conducted, incident command is established, and risks are assessed and managed throughout a roadway incident. 6. Ensure that SOPs include guidance on how to properly establish advance warning and transition areas for highway emergency incidents. 7. Ensure that fire fighters wear suitable high-visibility retro-reflective apparel while working non-fire emergency scenes near moving traffic. 8. Ensure that high visibility chevrons and reflective markings are applied to all apparatus to enhance conspicuity while parked at emergency scenes and during emergency response. 9. Ensure that all persons involved in training and operations of emergency response meet applicable requisite knowledge and skills.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Automobiles Emergency Responders Firefighters Occupational Health Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Injury-prevention Motor-vehicles OSHA Region 9 Safety-practices Surveillance Training Traumatic-injuries Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Trauma ; Motor Vehicle: Struck-by
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF201207
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-24
• Contributor:
  Gasaway, Richard B.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043109
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2013-110590
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE F2012-07, 2013 Jul ; :1-24
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2012/02/29
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3548c51a0051d33d20e6941ed750198179f861dfa1f8e20be7eeebc9307b6ea068ac68ae9318dfcf903654244ca28f391ad3c03b94f3dbef5dcb8a386e7cd9d1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163457/cdc_163457_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.12 MB ]