Sixteen-Year-Old Mechanic's Assistant Died After Being Run Over by the Rear Wheels of a Tub Grinder - Connecticut: FACE 2000-14

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program
• Description:
  On March 13, 2000, a 16-year-old male mechanic's assistant (the victim) died after he was run over by the rear wheels of a trailer-mounted tub grinder (a machine used to grind large volumes of wood for waste disposal, reduction, and recycling). The victim was a high school student and had been working for the company, a tree removal, wood waste processing and logging enterprise, on a part-time basis for 9 months. The victim worked at the company yard where wood waste was processed and vehicles maintained and repaired. On the day of the incident the tub grinder had been connected to a truck/tractor for transport to another job site and was parked in front of the company's garage with the truck engine idling. The victim was working in the yard near the garage while a mechanic was under the tub grinder repairing a trailer wheel's air brake system. When the mechanic crawled out from under the tub grinder and went to obtain a wrench of another size, the victim crawled under the tub grinder between the first and second axle with his own wrench. The truck/tractor driver, seeing the mechanic walk away, drove the vehicle forward, toward the refueling area, dragging and then running over the victim. Emergency rescue personnel were called immediately and arrived at the site within minutes. The victim was pronounced dead at the site. NIOSH investigators concluded that, to help prevent similar occurrences, employers should: 1) develop, implement, and enforce standard operating procedures for repair work performed under vehicles ; 2) provide workers with training in recognition of unsafe conditions and the required work practices that apply to their work environment ; 3) know and comply with child labor laws which include prohibitions against work by youth less than 18 years of age in occupations which are declared by the Secretary of Labor to be particularly hazardous (Hazardous Orders).
• Subjects:
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Adolescent
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Motor Vehicles
  • Occupational Exposure
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
• Keywords:
  • OSHA Region 1
  • Traumatic injuries
  • Occupational hazards
  • Occupational safety programs
  • Accident prevention
  • Accidents
  • Machine operation
  • Machine operators
  • Safety education
  • Safety measures
  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  All ; Machine (All) ; Machine - General ; Youth ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE200014
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  Connecticut ; OSHA Region 1
• 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:
  7 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Higgins, Doloris N.
• Volume:
  2000
• Issue:
  14
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20021154
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2005-101093
• 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:
  56 - Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services - (NAICS 2022)
• Start Date:
  2000/03/13
• Resource Number:
  FACE 2000-14
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167370/cdc_167370_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 771.75 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:414a581e0115c40915b86320d498c9319dfc18970c4c8fc6492d64e78e880240b40fafbe4a33e9df737b5e23d7d55803a87d349acb267ef251214480676b41aa