Fire Fighter Deaths from Tanker Truck Rollovers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Romano, Nancy T.
• Description:
  Mobile water supply vehicles, known as tankers or tenders, are widely used to transport water to areas beyond a water supply system or where the water supply is inadequate. Incidents involving motor vehicles account for approximately 20% of U.S. fire fighter deaths each year; cases involving tankers are the most prevalent of these motor vehicle incidents. During 1977-1999, 73 deaths occurred in 63 crashes involving tankers. Of those deaths, 54 occurred in 49 crashes in which tankers rolled over (no collision), and 8 occurred in 6 crashes in which the tankers left the road (no collision). The other cases involved collision with another vehicle (10 deaths in 7 crashes) and collision with stationary object(s) (1 death) [NFPA 2000]. Tanker drivers may not be fully aware that tanker trucks are more difficult to control than passenger vehicles. A tanker truck requires a much greater distance to stop. Tankers weigh substantially more, and their air brake systems take more time to activate than the hydraulic/mechanical brake systems on smaller passenger cars. The effect is influenced by the amount of water the tanker is hauling and whether the tanker is baffled. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Automobiles Firefighters Fires Mortality Occupational Health Safety Transportation
• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Automotive-industry Drivers Fire-fighting Fire-fighting-equipment Hydraulic-equipment Injury-prevention Materials-transport Mortality-data Motor-vehicles Transport-mechanisms Transportation-industry Transportation-workers Water-industry

  More +
• ISSN:
  1047-322X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  17
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20024856
• Citation:
  Appl Occup Environ Hyg 2002 Sep; 17(9):598-599
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:093cd20c98a69ca901726259d407edf3370e4a7388996c1c2d6265f71288973d40d5da5dbc54e9c493a1233ec26d732391001d34b006e4e7bdb24f510e9b7afc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/196461/cdc_196461_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 106.53 KB ]