Fatality Narrative: Excavator Operator Killed When Excavator Tips Over

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  On January 15, 2008, an excavator operator died when the excavator tipped, and fell off a bridge into a river. The 62-year-old journeyman operator with certification to operate cranes was employed with a heavy/highway construction company. He was working on a project requiring the removal of an existing bridge deck and replacing it with a new deck. The current phase of the project involved the demolition of the bridge deck or roadway by cutting the existing concrete deck into slabs that would then be removed by an excavator. The excavator the victim was operating was equipped with a "slab crab" bucket which would grab the slabs and then the excavator would rotate 180 degrees and place the slabs on the deck for removal by a forklift. For this particular lift, due to bridge structural constraints, the excavator was rigged with a two-leg bridle chain sling attached to the slab and bucket in order to lift this 8x10 foot slab estimated to weigh 6,600 lbs. When the operator made the pick of the slab it hung vertically instead of horizontally. The victim extended the boom's arm, raising the load higher so that it could be moved. If the load is raised by the arm, the load is extended outwards. The operator began to swing the load in one direction, but quickly swung it in the opposite direction when he saw someone in his swing radius. When the operator began to swing the load toward the bridge guardrail it appeared that the load might strike the rail. The operator extended the arm, raising the load which cleared the guardrail, but at this point the load capability of the excavator was exceeded and the excavator tipped sideways and fell over the side of the bridge, landing in the river 60 feet below. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Education Mortality Occupational Health Safety Staff Development Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident Prevention Construction Equipment Construction Workers Cranes Employees Equipment Maintenance Equipment Operation Equipment Operators Equipment Reliability Excavation Equipment Excavations Fatalities Load Monitoring Safety Equipment Training Traumatic Injuries Work Environment Workers Worker Safety

  More +
• 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
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051683
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-81-2009, 2009 Mar; :1
• 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:
  Fatality narrative: excavator operator killed when excavator tips over
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2406092a2e700ce601839c074840879fae6bae63fbce06069dda6e703576b4c1e5d98de08c706bebb0acea22e86be4cbdd8925abd85c689e3b1e585cbcf51ee0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228792/cdc_228792_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 53.28 KB ]