A Volunteer Fire Fighter Died After Being Struck by a Motor Vehicle While Directing Traffic – New York

Details

• Personal Author:
  McFall, Mark F.
• 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 January 9, 2001, a 48-year-old male volunteer fire fighter (the victim) was struck by a motor vehicle while directing traffic. The victim and Fire Fighter #1 had responded in Rescue Truck 66 at 1642 hours to a call for a non-injury, motor-vehicle crash involving downed power lines. Assistant Chief #1 called for fire police to block the southbound lane of traffic coming from the north of the motor-vehicle crash, and for another crew to block the northbound traffic coming from the south of the motor-vehicle crash. At 1654 hours, the victim and Fire Fighter #1 arrived at the intersection north of the motor-vehicle crash and positioned Rescue Truck 66 just south of the intersection with the apparatus facing north. With the emergency lights activated, Fire Fighter #1 and the victim stood near Rescue Truck 66, directing traffic. At approximately 1720 hours, a civilian driver heading west stopped at the intersection and signaled to make a left turn (south). The victim walked over to inform the driver that the road was closed. At 1722 hours, the victim stepped back away from the driver's window when a pickup truck traveling eastbound struck him. The victim was thrown under a pickup truck stopped in the westbound traffic lane. He was transported to a local hospital and later transferred to the regional trauma center. He died the following day at 0323 hours. NIOSH investigators concluded that, to minimize the risk of similar occurrences, fire departments should: 1. establish, implement, and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) regarding emergency operations for highway incidents
  
  2. ensure that personnel receive training in the proper procedures and the hazards associated with conducting traffic control
  
  3. ensure that personnel wear personal protective clothing that is suitable to that incident while operating at an emergency scene, such as a highly visible reflectorized flagger vest (strong yellow-green or orange)
  
  and, 4. establish pre-incident plans regarding traffic control for emergency service incidents.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Automobiles Emergency Responders Firefighters Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Injury-prevention Motor-vehicles OSHA Region 2 Personal-protective-equipment Protective-clothing
• 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/NIOSHFFFACEF200107
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• 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:
  1-8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20022934
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2003-105828
• 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 F2001-07, 2001 May ; :1-8
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2001/01/09
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cc3a60fb8a14d3b1a063e7bb989fb76d0ae07aaa9887f3e905de7a1cbc097b5ca8f0656740147510cf6c8f1a0787f2b2de91a5c6f52a04519d318db07227fc9e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163835/cdc_163835_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 132.95 KB ]