Developmentally disabled worker dies after being run over by a front-end loader in California

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Health Services
• Description:
  A 51-year-old male, developmentally disabled worker (the victim) was run over by a front-end loader while he was at work at a recycling facility. The victim and six of his co-workers (also workers with disabilities) had been assigned the task of cleaning up trash. Their supervisor was operating the front-end loader when the incident occurred. One of the workers ran over to the area where the supervisor was working and told him that the victim was having a seizure. The supervisor and one of the disabled co-workers went over to the victim and attempted to help him walk. The supervisor was not aware that he had run over the victim with the front-end loader. The supervisor called the director of rehabilitation at the main office to request medical assistance. The director of rehabilitation arrived at the scene, and after examining the victim, called 911. The victim was transported to the hospital by paramedics and died three hours later. The CA/FACE investigator concluded that in order to prevent similar future occurrences employers should: 1. require that at least one supervisor, trained in safety, maintain constant supervision over disabled workers to assure that they comply with safe work practices. 2. require that equipment operators of heavy equipment look in the direction of travel and that workers wear high visibility garments when working in close proximity to large pieces of equipment. 3. keep developmentally disabled workers out of the area of danger of any heavy equipment by delineating the danger area's boundaries. 4. provide developmentally disabled workers with consistent and ongoing training and re-training regarding job safety hazards. 5. consider having proximity sensing devices installed on large pieces of equipment so that an operator is alerted when someone comes into the work area. 6. assure that employees are trained in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and receive refresher training so they can provide appropriate treatment when it is indicated.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Automobiles Construction Industry Construction Materials Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Construction-equipment Construction-materials Disabled-workers Drivers Equipment-operators Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 9 Protective-equipment Protective-measures Safety-clothing 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 ; Machine (All) ; Machine - General
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE95CA021
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  6 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027078
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-112648
• 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 95CA021, 1996 Oct ; :1-6
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• Performing Organization:
  California Department of Health Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  62 - Health Care and Social Assistance - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:512f1825fe8991ff15e5a243f98328d1b0a9cdd9265db91938a7895a177f1a36cba960d7a1b44e4d259d9265e6ca378f71790b1a61feac16456c6834fc657d37
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169013/cdc_169013_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 31.46 KB ]