Seventeen-Year-Old Laborer at Salvage Lumber Operation Crushed by Forklift That Tipped Over - New York

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program
• Description:
  On July 10, 2000, a 17-year-old laborer (the victim) working at a salvage lumber operation was fatally injured when the sit-down type forklift he was operating overturned. The youth had been asked to move the forklift from the lumber storage area to the resaw area when he returned to work from break. He had offered a ride to a coworker who was also returning to work. She had accepted and was riding on the right side of the forklift, holding onto the overhead guard. They had traveled about 135 feet when the victim turned sharply to the left, and the forklift tipped and overturned to the right. The coworker jumped from the machine while the victim was thrown or jumped from the operator's seat. The victim's head was caught between the overhead guard and the ground while the coworker's ankle was pinned. Other workers heard screams and went to the forklift. They raised the machine to free the coworker and pulled the victim from under the overhead guard. Emergency personnel were notified and arrived within 15 minutes. The victim was transported to a local emergency room where he was pronounced dead. The coworker was transported to a local emergency room where she was treated for minor ankle injuries and released. NIOSH investigators concluded that, to help prevent similar occurrences, employers should: 1) ensure that forklifts are operated by employees who have been specifically trained to use safe operating procedures and to recognize the hazards of improper operation
  
  2) ensure that sit-down type forklifts are equipped with adequate operator restraint systems to protect the workers in the event of a tipover
  
  3) ensure that riders are not allowed on forklifts unless the machines are specifically designed to safely accommodate passengers
  
  4) establish work policies that comply with child labor laws prohibiting youths less than 18 years of age from operating power-driven hoisting equipment, including forklifts.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Age Factors Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Age-factors Injury-prevention Occupational-hazards Occupational-safety-programs OSHA Region 2 Safety-belts Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Safety-programs Training Traumatic-injuries

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Machine (All) ; Machine - Manufacturing ; Youth ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE200022
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  6 pages
• Contributor:
  Moore, Paul H.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20021546
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2005-101101
• Citation:
  Morgantown, : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2000/07/10
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9eff672eb6eda1b6af6e9da9bdaac9611d9f91309cc8835f65a6b476a55aa005fc348ea3f75cab6b21e33d7e4701a437a1d5709bc23d4d364a143dc96b9e72ed
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167364/cdc_167364_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 176.12 KB ]