Equipment Operator Dies After the Backhoe He Was Operating Rolled Off an Embankment in California

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Health Services
• Description:
  A 55-year-old male equipment operator (the victim) died from injuries he sustained after the backhoe he was operating rolled over the side of an embankment. The victim was performing road maintenance work using a backhoe to move dirt from an upper to a lower embankment as part of a road widening operation. After the backhoe went over the embankment, it traveled 30 feet before flipping onto its right side. The victim was not wearing a hard hat or a seat belt which allowed him to be thrown headfirst into the roll over protective structure (ROPS) bar located approximately four feet from his seat. A site safety inspection had been performed by management the day before the job was to have begun, but this information had not yet been discussed with employees when the incident occurred. The autopsy report indicated that the victim had a significantly elevated ethanol level. After the incident, the victim was transported by helicopter to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The CA/FACE investigator concluded that in order to prevent similar future occurrences employers should: 1. require that all employees wear seat belts when operating large pieces of equipment such as backhoes. 2. require that employees wear hard hats when operating large pieces of equipment. 3. perform initial and ongoing hazard identification surveys and communicate these results to employees. 4. familiarize themselves with the signs and symptoms of alcohol or drug use and/or dependence through educational and training sessions so that they may effectively intervene when indicated. In addition, manufacturers and equipment designers should consider: 5. designing backhoes with interlock systems that would prevent the machine from operating unless the seatbelt is fastened properly.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Alcoholic Beverages Construction Industry Maintenance Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Alcoholic-beverages Equipment-design Equipment-operators Injuries Injury-prevention Maintenance-workers OSHA Region 9 Protective-equipment Protective-measures Road-construction Road-surfacing Safety-belts Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-helmets Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Substance-abuse Training Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Machine (All) ; Machine - Construction ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE95CA010
• 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:
  5 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027066
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-112118
• 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 95CA010, 1996 Jan ; :1-5
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1996
• Performing Organization:
  California Department of Health Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (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:cb798069890d2868385f5442d7ca6d3ecf0ce3bf21dc07bccdf9c2960321159882505493bbe4726113adcdcf9994d9c6c4361970de682b39b52f1b06e2368e66
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169023/cdc_169023_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 27.21 KB ]