Fatal Facts: Construction Machinery Fatalities, WA State, 1998–2008

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  This report summarizes fatalities related to construction machinery in Washington State from 1998 to 2008. The data was compiled by the Washington State Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program. The data presented in this report were collected according to the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS). NAICS six digit codes beginning with 23XXXX representing the construction industries were used for this report. This report exclusively includes incidents involving construction machinery and not vehicles that can go on the street. Construction machinery in this report does not include construction vehicles, such as dump trucks or other motor vehicle. Fatalities associated with construction machinery that were determined to be caused by electrocution were also excluded from this report. The data in this report may vary from data generated by other sources due to counting criteria. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the construction industry had the highest number of fatalities of any sector in 2006. This was an increase of 3% from 2005. Construction and extraction occupations and transportation and material moving occupations together accounted for nearly half (48%) of all fatal work injuries in 2006. The events most frequently leading to work-related fatalities in construction from 1995 through 1999 were falls (33%), transportation incidents (20%), contact with objects or equipment (19%), and exposure to harmful substances and environments (17%). Each event type accounted for a similar proportion of construction occupational fatalities on 2006. Within the construction industry, NIOSH identified machinery related traumatic occupational incidents as the fourth leading cause of fatalities. Cranes, excavating machinery, and tractors were the machines most frequently involved. The most common incident types were: struck by a mobile machine; overturn; and struck by a boom (Pratt, Kisner et al. 1997). In Washington, the construction industry sectors where machinery fatalities happened most often were: 1. Highway, bridge, and street construction. 2. Site preparation. 3. Water and sewer line construction. The most common fatal incidents involved: 1. Earth moving, and scraping machinery. 2. Excavating machinery. 3. Lifting machines and appliances. Between 1998 and 2008, fatalities were almost equal for machinery operators and workers on foot. Operators were killed most frequently in backhoe/trackhoe incidents while workers on foot were killed most frequently in excavating machinery incidents. Furthermore, machinery operators were predominately involved in fatal roll over incidents while workers on foot were either mainly struck by machinery or other objects. The majority of machine operators killed were not wearing seat belts or occupant restraints. Employers and employees should follow the detailed prevention measures outlined by NIOSH for site set up, machinery operators, and other site workers (page 14). Areas to focus prevention efforts are the use of seat belts and occupant restraints among machinery operators and reducing struck by incidents among workers on foot. Seventy percent of machinery operators involved in roll-over fatalities did not use seat belts or occupant restraints. Nearly 90% of workers on foot were struck and killed by machinery or other objects. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Automobiles Construction Industry Construction Materials Education Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Mortality Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Staff Development Transportation Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accidents Construction Construction Equipment Construction Industry Construction Materials Construction Workers Drivers Equipment-reliability Fatalities Ground Control Ground Stability Injuries Injury-prevention Machine-operation Mortality-data Motor-vehicles Safety Belts Safety Clothing Safety Education Safety Equipment Safety Measures Safety Practices Statistical Analysis Training Traumatic-injuries Work-environment Work-practices Workers

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• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• 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:
  1-19
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051297
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 47-17-2009, 2009 May; :1-19
• Contact Point Address:
  SHARP Program, Washington Department of Labor & Industries, PO Box 44330, Olympia, WA 98504-4330
• Email:
  SHARP@Lni.wa.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatal facts: construction machinery fatalities, WA state, 1998-2008
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3bb4266dd9a4a376cc141711390120622420938680f39d5bde23b8ccf6222aa77b9d2e4c4296e980cad452e1aa95db0a20e6ad89d2799df2b292a3ca2231a725
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228698/cdc_228698_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 862.35 KB ]