Injury Narrative: Orchard Laborer Severely Injured When Thrown from Bin Carrier

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries ; Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 37-year-old laborer at a potato packing plant suffered a severe traumatic brain injury when he was struck by a piece of metal falling from a load being moved by a forklift. The victim had been employed for four years as a general laborer at his employer's potato packing and shipping plant. On the day of the incident, the victim and another laborer were assisting their foreman who was operating a forklift to move a staircase platform. The metal platform with a staircase on either end was to be lifted, moved, and placed over a potato conveyor. The two staircases attached to the 6-foot platform had different numbers of steps: one staircase had 6 steps and the other 4 steps. The foreman began moving the staircase platform with the forklift, but it was unbalanced, and tilting to the side, so he asked the two laborers to stand on the staircases on either end to balance the load. The laborers got on to the staircases and the foreman picked up the load and began moving again. After about 20 feet, the forklift wheel hit a piece of angle iron on the floor that caused the forklift to stop suddenly. The staircase platform tilted to the side and fell off the forklift forks. Both workers fell about 8 feet to the floor. Several metal decking panels came off the platform and one struck the victim on the head. He suffered a serious traumatic brain injury and has been unable to return to work. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Education Mortality Occupational Health Safety Staff Development Workplace
• Keywords:
  Agricultural Agricultural Machinery Agricultural Safety Agricultural Workers Equipment Operation Equipment Operators Fatalities Injuries Safety Belts Safety Measures Safety Practices Tractors Training Traumatic Injuries Work Environment Workers Worker Safety

  More +
• Publisher:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051432
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-150-2016, 2016 Aug; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Injury narrative: orchard laborer severely injured when thrown from bin carrier
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:34a2a89a53fda7ab86d187bca87d995564a8043d07b2cfc3581108ad6eacf1e5a82960dc373b135d936e54645a4f710b3882984dc6c07bf123a06bfeaee8bb68
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/211394/cdc_211394_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 586.98 KB ]