County Garbage Collector Dies After Falling From Back End of Moving Garbage Truck

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The case of a 44 year old male county garbage collector who died after falling 12 inches from the back end of a moving garbage truck was examined. The employer was a county solid waste sanitation department that had been in operation for 23 years. The department employed 33 garbage collectors and 12 garbage truck drivers. The county has a general written safety policy. The victim and a coworker rode inside the truck cab to a designated pickup area. As they made pickups within the area they stood on footrest platforms at the rear left and right ends of the truck. The platforms measure 12 inches by 8 inches and were 12 inches above the ground. The victim had not been issued a hardhat. He decided not to ride in the cab, as was required, to the next location, because he was feeling nauseated and wanted to get some fresh air. A driver on the highway behind the truck saw the victim convulse and fall to the left of the platform. The victim died of a skull fracture and cerebral contusions and lacerations. It was recommended that garbage collectors remain inside vehicles with fastened seat belts while traveling to and from collection areas
  
  that workers do not perform potentially hazardous tasks when their ability to work safely becomes impaired
  
  that garbage collectors wear approved protective helmets on the job
  
  and that training be provided.
  
  
• Content Notes:
  Publication date provided by the authoring office. There is no publication date indicated on the resource.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Waste Management
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis FACE-91-09 Head-injuries OSHA Region 3 Traumatic-injuries Waste-disposal Work-practices
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Falls ; Motor Vehicles ; Waste Management and Remediation Services ; Motor Vehicles - Refuse Truck
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE9109
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Virginia ; OSHA Region 3
• 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:
  6 pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00206910
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB92-193580
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 91-09, 1991 Mar ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1991
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  56 - Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1990/11/29
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:96092270c0a3db2201e43ff125f7117c0eef0fe9b14193f219604027b141519902a34a01562e965a0649a9a3aae1a87fea3a5c3a06a6bdafff8e31c5291315d1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164320/cdc_164320_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 454.37 KB ]