Farm driver overturns truck in irrigation ditch and drowns

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Oregon Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (Program) (OR-FACE) ; Oregon Health & Science University. Oregon Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology (CROET)
• Description:
  On October 11, 2003, a 20-year-old Hispanic farm truck driver was killed when his truck full of potatoes overturned in an irrigation ditch at the edge of a farm field. The driver had been driving the potato truck for 2 weeks prior to the accident. The incident occurred about 9:30 p.m., 13 hours after the driver began work in the morning of his sixth full day in a row. Weather was windy and overcast. The 1970 truck had no seat belts. Traveling an estimated 15-25 mph on a hard-packed dirt road, the truck verged into the loose soil at the edge of the ditch, and continued off the road until the vehicle overturned and came to rest with the cab submerged in the water in the ditch. The water was 4-7 ft. deep. Another driver passing along the same road noticed the victim's truck overturned in the ditch and alerted the foreman. First responders called a dive team to the scene to remove the body. Cause of death was probably drowning. The medical examiner reported the victim's blood-alcohol level at 0.03 percent. Recommendations: 1. While driving along an abrupt edge, keep your eyes on the road at all times. If distracted, even momentarily, stop the vehicle. 2. Do not use alcohol during or immediately prior to work hours. 3. Employers and employees should be alert to the hazards of fatigue due to extended work hours.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Alcoholic Beverages Automobiles Fatigue Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Alcoholic-beverages Drivers Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 10 Safety-education Substance-abuse Traumatic-injuries Truck-drivers Work-operations

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Agriculture ; Hispanic ; Foreign Born Workers
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE03OR033
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20029468
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2006-105510
• 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 03OR033, 2006 Jan ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  Oregon Department of Human Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  11 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2002/09/01
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6803d096a8e65ef6491f430f736ca0590fbfe06d687b8223814033919cb1f9e653d49ea7849ea3d663fa5ee5974be551b7df876770da8905f402266c578fc8b9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166362/cdc_166362_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 101.23 KB ]