Worker Dies After Being Run Over by the Skidder He was Operating in West Virginia

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  West Virginia Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (West Virginia FACE) ; West Virginia University. Center for Rural Emergency Medicine ; West Virginia. Department of Health & Human Resources
• Description:
  On February 26, 2002, an unrestrained 22-year-old male heavy equipment operator (victim) died of injuries sustained when the skidder he was operating ran over him. The victim was using the piece of equipment to drag logs down a skid road to the landing. Approximately 2 weeks before the incident the cab doors had been removed from the skidder for repair. Prior to the fatal incident, the victim had finished lunch and told co-workers he was going back up the hill to get another load of logs. Approximately 30 minutes later, the workers became concerned when the operator did not return with the load. One of the co-workers took a bulldozer up the skid road and discovered the victim lying in the middle of the road. The skidder was spotted over the hill with the load of logs. There were no witnesses, but it was apparent that the skidder, as well as load of logs, had run over the operator. The worker who had discovered the victim returned to the site and told the other worker to call 911. Using his cell phone, he contacted EMS who arrived within 17 minutes of receiving the call. The victim was transported to a medical facility and pronounced dead. The WV FACE investigator concluded that to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences, employers should: 1. Ensure that machines are maintained in a safe and serviceable condition. Additionally, machine operators should: 2. Always wear their seatbelt while operating machines.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Forestry Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Equipment-operators Equipment-reliability Forestry-workers Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 3 Personal-protective-equipment Protective-equipment Safety-belts Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Logging
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE02WV007
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  West Virginia ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20028675
• 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 02WV007, 2002 Jun ; :1-5
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• Performing Organization:
  West Virginia Department of Health & Human Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  11 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1996/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b4a82f27428e776ee3ad6d8002ab10e49f506984869981546bf82ab121284f670cf3a89917e5d394f6709c83f246321d87e1166a426b4d4222896ba54d6627d1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166469/cdc_166469_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 423.22 KB ]