Construction Worker Fatally Struck by Steel Sheet Pile Falling from a Vibratory Pile Driver

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  New York State Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Program (NY FACE) ; New York (State). Department of Health. Bureau of Occupational Health and Injury Prevention
• Description:
  On May 29, 2015, at 12:04 p.m., a 50-year-old female employee of a construction company was struck and killed by a steel sheet pile that broke off from a vibratory pile driver at a bridge construction site. At the time of the incident, the decedent was directing traffic while a crew consisting of a foreman, a crane operator, an excavator operator, and an assistant iron worker were conducting a pile driving operation. A vibratory pile driver was used to install sheet piles at the existing bridge abutment. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS - Key contributing factors identified in this investigation include: 1) There was only one main hoist line holding the pile driver because the crane's auxiliary hoist was not assembled and rigged
  
  2) The sheet pile was not rigged to the crane through a safety line
  
  3) Workers were not trained on how to safely operate the vibratory pile driver. RECOMMENDATIONS - New York FACE investigators concluded that, to help prevent similar occurrences, employers should: 1) Ensure that piles are always secured to the crane via a safety line for as long as the piles are being held by the crane. 2) Ensure that all workers are protected from being struck by the load of a crane during pile driving. 3) Ensure that the hydraulic clamp bolts are inspected and evenly tightened to the appropriate torque as specified by the manufacturer.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident Analysis Accident Prevention Construction Industry Cranes Falling Objects Fatalities Materials Transport OSHA Region 2 Safety Practices Traumatic Injuries
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Machine (All) ; Machine - Construction
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE15NY032
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-20
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20067610
• 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 15NY032, 2022 Apr ; :1-20
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  New York State Department of Health/Health Research Incorporated
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS) ; 237310 - Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2026/06/30
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fa1a7dea5910df46e30a925874ddf2c870f47feccb5572c1aa995c72048e93e2cce16c064825f7f17a5149924f34c0c3970fdf3a3a769a66a4ea349a157b3049
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164847/cdc_164847_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.81 MB ]