A county road worker died when a tow rope connection broke loose and struck him in the head.

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Oklahoma Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (OKFACE) ; Oklahoma. State Department of Health ; Oklahoma. Injury Prevention Service
• Description:
  A 61-year-old equipment operator for a county maintenance crew died on January 8, 2003, from head injuries received in a towing incident when a tow rope connection broke loose and struck him in the head. At the time of the incident, the victim was seated in a motor grader that was stuck in a ditch. Another grader had been dispatched and was attempting to pull the grader that was stuck. The tow rope was attached to a ripper tooth on the dispatched grader. During the towing process, the ripper tooth broke loose and was slung forward and struck the victim in the back of the head. Co-workers called for help via a two-way radio. An ambulance arrived at the scene within 25-30 minutes, but the injuries sustained by the worker were sufficiently severe to cause death within two hours of the incident. Oklahoma Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (OKFACE) investigators concluded that to help prevent similar occurrences, employers should: 1. Develop written procedures to safely tow equipment using work practices that provide protection from flying parts that could break loose during the operation. 2. Train workers on safe procedures for towing equipment.
• Content Notes:
  Publication Date provided by FACE program
  
  not printed on the report.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Maintenance Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Construction-equipment Equipment-operators Equipment-reliability Injuries Injury-prevention Maintenance-workers OSHA Region 6 Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Safety-programs Training Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE03OK007
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Oklahoma ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027785
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2010-114219
• 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 03OK007, 2003 Jul ; :1-3
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Performing Organization:
  Oklahoma State Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1997/07/01
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:330fcfb4db3f0facdff81dc877dcdee8b814df5d1618b62f56de2f0f47c8ec70bf10584fe5b051d8fcd920238f3458b759d3df186110a7a7cf729d24f6be7b2a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167045/cdc_167045_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 158.11 KB ]