Public-Utility Foreman Dies After Being Struck Against the Protective Cab of a Tractor–Virginia

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program
• Description:
  This report concerned the death of a 62-year-old male public utility foreman working for a company which was in the second year of a contract to clear brush and weeds from the area around a settling pond at a foundry complex. The rectangular pond covered about 2 acres in size. The crew, on which the victim was working, was cutting brush with a chain saw, and weeds and grass with a tractor pulling a brush hog. The brush hog was equipped with two heavy duty cutting blades which produced a 6-foot-wide cut. The victim was removing brush on the bank of the pond and had a rope tied around his waist which was being held by his coworker. The victim called to his helper to assist him with the chain saw. Leaving the rope on the ground, the helper went to the victim to assist him. At about that time the spotter for the tractor came upon several gas cans in the path that the tractor was cutting, and he began removing these cans to a refuse truck. The tractor driver continued cutting and ran over the rope lying in the grass. The victim was jerked up the bank and into the air toward the tractor, striking the metal cab enclosure of the tractor headfirst. He was pronounced dead at the scene due to multiple traumas. It is recommended that a reevaluation be made of employees working in the proximity to operating equipment, that operators stop equipment when their spotters are out of sight, that full body harnesses be worn when tied off, and that unscheduled safety checks be made at all job sites.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Equipment-operators FACE-96-09 Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 3 Safety-equipment Traumatic-injuries
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Machine (All) ; Machine - General ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE9609
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Virginia ; OSHA Region 3
• 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:
  4 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00230287
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB96-194303
• 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:
  1996
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  22 - Utilities - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1995/12/21
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f1fddfc1e37bdad561d24ad0a086d1f3612934ab4c38e33778d4bb9859a29bc509b30c7278c1639a8f5147d28089100ddf0f00c62e82fa3949afe99a7b10e633
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167436/cdc_167436_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 276.21 KB ]