It Really Happened: Liftgate Hang-Ups Are Safety Let Downs

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 47-year-old truck driver injured his neck and back trying to stop a shipment from falling off his truck's broken liftgate. The driver arrived at the customer site early on a Friday with a heavy load of valuable office equipment. He hauled the freight in a standard box truck equipped with a rail-style hydraulic liftgate. Unaware of its unsafe condition, he stood on the liftgate platform, and flipped the control switch to lower it. As the platform dropped, its left runner got stuck in the rail. The platform tilted unevenly to the right. The load shifted close to the edge. The driver reacted in a sudden twisting motion to save the freight from crashing down. He felt a twinge in his back, but ignored it. As the day wore on, the driver felt worse. By Monday morning he could not move. A medical exam showed serious strain injuries to his neck and back. He has not returned to work after many months of therapy. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Back Injuries Equipment Operators Injury Prevention Neck Injuries Safety Practices Truck Drivers Trucking
• Publisher:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058480
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 90-181-2018, 2018 Spring; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  It really happened: liftgate hang-ups are safety let downs
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ddea32b5d5ead9258146c3399cec67a558b299ec20910fd73386beb9bd3876bb0f282841f4ac93b149cbd9ba93747e1f09c2cbd3ac16b27f8bf70dab3a1a7584
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/221568/cdc_221568_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 540.63 KB ]