21 Year-old Male Dies when Struck in the Head with a Track Hoe Bucket

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Kentucky Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (KY FACE) ; University of Kentucky. College of Public Health. Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center
• Description:
  On November 22, 2002, a 21-year-old male laborer died after being hit in the head with the bucket of a track hoe. He was wearing a safety helmet at the time of the incident. There were six to seven workers at the job site when the incident occurred. The work crew was pouring the footing for a retaining wall as part of a bridge for a private runway being built. The concrete form collapsed, trapping one worker, and almost trapping two others. The decedent had left to retrieve a shovel to help free the trapped co-worker. As he retrieved the shovel, he walked into a blind spot of the track hoe operator at the same time another worker asked the track hoe operator if there was a chain in the cab of the track hoe. The operator looked down at the floor and as he did so, his hand slightly moved the hand control causing the bucket to move, thus striking the decedent. He was transported to a hospital where he was declared dead by the coroner from blunt force injuries to the head. In order to prevent similar incidents from occurring, the Kentucky Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program recommends: 1. A hazard assessment of the work area should be performed every time work conditions change. Workers should not be in a blind spot of heavy equipment operators without the operator's knowledge. When blind spots are identified, a spotter should be used. 2. During emergency situations employ safe work practices.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Construction Materials Occupational Health Safety Safety Management
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Author Keywords: Track Hoe Blind Spot Cement-industry Construction Construction-equipment Construction-industry Construction-materials Construction-workers Equipment-operators Hard Hat Injuries Injury-prevention Joystick OSHA Region 4 Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-practices Traumatic-injuries Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE02KY106
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  7 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026411
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2012-114004
• 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 02KY106, 2003 Jun ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Performing Organization:
  Kentucky Department of Health Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1993/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dc1a37e9ab2dc6d8b3a84ce3342a0835e5d473902f1b7a6aa8143fa6c9c1cb9ec9288c9ef36dd0722f90346099dc46268346c2859f0df0b85055cb049273363e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170162/cdc_170162_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 651.78 KB ]