FACE Facts: Open-Top Tractor Trailers Loaded with Loose Material Have the Potential to Engulf and Suffocate Workers These Are Permit-Required Confined Spaces

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  Incident: In 2008, a 47-year-old truck driver was fatally injured while transporting woodchips in an open top 18-wheel tractor trailer equipped with a movable floor unloading system. During offloading, the woodchips jammed against the trailer's top cross stability bar. While attempting to clear the jam, the truck driver climbed to the top of the trailer, stepped onto the woodchip pile, and then fell through the woodchips to the bottom of the pile. He was engulfed by the woodchips and suffocated. Recommendations for Employers: Employees operating open top trailers to transport loose material should: 1. Ensure that trailers are identified and labeled as confined spaces. 2. Develop, implement, and enforce a permit space program for permitrequired confined spaces. (See box on reverse side for more information on confined spaces.) 3. Provide confined space training for employees that address all potential hazards inside open top trailers, such as engulfment by woodchips. In addition, employers using open top trailers with movable floor unloading systems to transport loose material should: 1. Never fill trailers above cross stability bars. This will minimize jamming during offloading. 2. Develop and strictly enforce procedures on how to clear jammed material where employees do not have to enter the trailers. 3. Train employees about the potential formation of voids within loose material inside trailers that can engulf them. These unnoticeable voids can develop within the material, especially during material jams when offloading. 4. Install automatic sweeping tarps as part of movable floor unloading systems, available from most system manufacturers, to reduce the need for employees to enter trailers. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Automobiles
  • Confined Spaces
  • Education
  • Mortality
  • Occupational Exposure
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Fatalities
  • Injuries
  • Accident analysis
  • Accident prevention
  • Safety
  • Safety education
  • Safety practices
  • Motor vehicles
  • Trucking
  • Haulage vehicles
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Fact Sheet
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20053336
• Citation:
  Boston, MA: Massachusetts State Department of Public Health, 2009 May; :1-2
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Healthcare and Social Assistance
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts State Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  FACE facts: open-top tractor trailers loaded with loose material have the potential to engulf and suffocate workers. These are permit-required confined spaces
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228881/cdc_228881_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 295.74 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c792be5d02b56b528ef46cfaad09305d6782f344a5278bae674a971124058a2ae5233c2b113838a14e22895ae5b3a7b1f256c18778e20001d8b8a61673a22ef4