Lake Maintenance Worker Drowns while Removing Weeds from a Golf Course Lake

Details

• Personal Author:
  Barreau, Tracy ; Harrison, Robert ; Styles, Laura
• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Public Health. Occupational Health Branch
• Description:
  A lake maintenance worker drowned after falling from a row boat while clearing vegetation (weeds) from a golf course lake. The victim worked for a lake management company. The victim was "corralling" aquatic weeds by dragging a rope out into the lake, and circling the weeds while standing up in a 10-foot aluminum, non-motorized fishing boat. The movement in the boat caused it to capsize, throwing the victim into the water. The victim was recovered from the bottom of the lake six hours later by the sheriff's dive team. The victim was working alone in the boat, was not wearing a personal floatation device (PFD) and did not have proper training in hazard recognition or water safety. The California Fatality Assessment Control Evaluation (CA/FACE) program investigator concluded that, to help prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future, employers should: 1. Provide personal flotation devices (PFDs) and ensure that workers wear them when working on water. 2. Develop and implement a comprehensive, written Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) that includes training in hazard recognition and the avoidance of unsafe conditions when working on water and using small watercraft. 3. Have two people on the boat when doing work on water. 4. Have life rings with ropes adequate in length to rescue workers who fall into the water or overboard. 5. Provide proper equipment for operating small, non-motorized watercraft. 6. Consider implementing an integrated pest management (IPM) program for controlling weed growth in lakes that includes a combination of mechanical, operational, biological and chemical (herbicide) techniques, thus reducing the need for working from boats.
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Fall-protection Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 9 Personal-protective-equipment Safety-equipment Safety-practices Training Traumatic-injuries

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Falls ; Hispanic ; Foreign Born Workers ; Waste Management and Remediation Services ; Landscaping Services
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE15CA001
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047463
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2016-102595
• 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 15CA001, 2015 Aug ; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  California Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  56 - Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services - (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-512:550347fe5288373b51cb498b5817886f1d822c86956977b65346c1c83a612dab29fcbcefab3361527b78e66894cbf21d28faa4c24b8e46bc84d7a85f98f9d5fb
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/165037/cdc_165037_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 435.11 KB ]