City Equipment Operator Killed when Run Over by a Rotary Riding Mower - Massachusetts

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Project (Massachusetts FACE) ; Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  On August 20, 2003, a 54-year-old public sector equipment operator (the victim) was fatally injured when he was run over by a sit-down rough rotary mower. The victim, who was mowing a section of a city park, stopped the mower on an edge of a hill and turned off the engine. After exiting the mower, he noticed that it had started to roll down the hill. The victim attempted to stop the rolling mower by stepping in front of it, but became trapped underneath the mower and was dragged approximately 75 feet. The victim was ejected from underneath the mower and the mower continued to roll another 25 feet. Two co-workers who were working nearby witnessed the incident and went to assist the victim. A call was placed for Emergency Medical Services (EMS). EMS responded to the incident site within minutes and transported the victim to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The Massachusetts FACE Program concluded that to prevent similar occurrences in the future, employers should: 1. Develop, implement, and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) for operating and shutting down mowers, including requirements to park mowers on level ground. 2. Develop, implement, and enforce a comprehensive written safety program, which includes training on hazard recognition and the avoidance of unsafe work practices and conditions. In addition, employers of state and municipal workers should: 3. Provide work environments that, at a minimum, meet all relevant Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) requirements and standards.
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Occupational Health
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Safety
  • Safety Management
  • Workplace
• Keywords:
  • OSHA Region 1
  • Accident-analysis
  • Accident-prevention
  • Accidents
  • Injuries
  • Injury-prevention
  • Traumatic-injuries
  • Work-operations
  • Work-analysis
  • Work-areas
  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Machine (All) ; Machine - General ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE03MA041
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20029346
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2006-106707
• 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 03MA041, 2005 Nov ; :1-6
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  71 - Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1992/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Resource Number:
  FACE-03MA041
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166375/cdc_166375_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 266.72 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3ffaef3182b748623c5fbc0703bfb746ce7300555a2470846fc1c719e7093c27cd0072ff9d27591d7dcc7571ec3f5ec39e80a85881331f4589a9fa7dcde68533