Construction Foreman Crushed by Excavator--Maryland

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Maryland Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Program (Maryland FACE) ; Maryland. Division of Labor and Industry
• Description:
  A 47-year-old male construction foreman (the victim) was crushed by the crawler treads of an excavator that was moving into position to dig a trench across a two-lane road. The victim had given directions to the operator regarding placement of the excavator. After speaking with the operator, the victim walked around to the opposite corner of the excavator. The victim, facing away from the excavator, leaned over to move an orange safety cone. The west track of the excavator caught the victim's leg and he fell to the ground face first into the path of the excavator. A witness ran toward the operator shouting to stop the machine and move backward off the victim. Another member of the crew radioed the company to notify 911. Paramedics arrived within minutes of the call. The victim was flown by helicopter to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center where he died from his injuries approximately 45 minutes after the incident. The Maryland FACE investigator suggests that to prevent similar incidents: 1. Employers should ensure that employees are instructed to stand clear of heavy equipment that is maneuvering in a work zone. 2. Employers should ensure that heavy equipment operators who must maneuver equipment with limited visibility in the direction of travel utilize an employee to signal the operator from a safe distance. 3. Employers should ensure that heavy equipment operators make every effort to establish a clear view in the direction of travel before maneuvering a piece of equipment. 4. Heavy equipment and other vehicles should be, when feasible, equipped with devices for visualizing or sensing the presence of humans or obstacles that are in the path of travel.
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Construction Industry
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
• Keywords:
  • Accident-analysis
  • Accident-potential
  • Accident-prevention
  • Accidents
  • Construction
  • Construction-equipment
  • Construction-industry
  • Construction-workers
  • Injuries
  • Injury-prevention
  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Highway Work Zones ; Machine (All) ; Machine - Construction
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE94MD063
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  4 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026157
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-107280
• 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 94MD063, 2005 Sep ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  Maryland Division of Labor and Industry
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1993/09/30
• End Date:
  1998/09/29
• Resource Number:
  FACE-94MD063 ; FACE 94MD063
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170314/cdc_170314_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 14.71 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c87d958d9dd52a45a1baa7f2724ce68ed6936f72b5348593d51df5bef5ab6321aa9bb728eeb395ee7707b696c9caa9877dbf6ba2b3ebfe6354853e4f72845a69