Forklift Driver Pinned Under an Overturned Forklift Dies

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Michigan Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (Project) (MIFACE) ; Michigan State University. Department of Medicine. Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Description:
  On February 17, 2006, a 46-year-old Hispanic male utility man was killed when he backed an 8,670-pound, propane-powered Toyota Model 426FGCU25 forklift over the edge of a loading dock, which then overturned and landed on him. The dock plate had two standard guardrails on either side with a chain across the dock opening. There were no witnesses to the events prior to the incident or to the incident itself. The decedent was discovered when another employee traveling through the area noticed the forklift's lights shining on the wall and the truck's forks up and against the wall in the truck well. This employee summoned others to the area when he discovered the decedent pinned face down between the concrete floor and the overhead guard. Several employees manually lifted the forklift enough to move the decedent from under it. It is assumed that the forklift was traveling in reverse, because neither the forks nor the mast appeared bent, as would have been the case if he had been traveling forward and drove off of the dock edge. It is unknown if he jumped or was thrown from the operator's seat. 911 was called and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Employers should install drop-off protection capable of withstanding forklift impact on a loading dock entrance when the dock entrance is near a normal path of travel for a forklift or pedestrian. 2. Employers should enforce employee use of the operator restraint provided by the forklift manufacturer (in this case, a seatbelt). 3. If the truck is not transporting a load that obstructs forward vision, forklift operators should limit the distance that the truck travels in reverse.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Occupational Health Safety Safety Management
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Equipment-operators Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 5 Safety-belts Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-practices Traumatic-injuries Warehousing Work-analysis Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Hispanic ; Machine (All) ; Machine - Manufacturing
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE06MI007
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Michigan ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032572
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-114530
• 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 06MI007, 2007 May ; :1-10
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Performing Organization:
  Michigan Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (Project) (MIFACE) ; Michigan State University. Department of Medicine. Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  31-33 - Manufacturing - (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:ffef9dccec06f1e458351299a77e7c7a9cbe43199c88fc275237f4951aaab1fa07c9e9cd783bbd41ee5c1476544d243d8349f7b04bfb0a7691da3186102f49f4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166254/cdc_166254_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 831.83 KB ]