FACE Facts: Backing Can Be Deadly

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  California. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  The California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program has been investigating work-related deaths since 1992. The goal of the FACE program is to prevent these deaths by informing workers and managers of worksite hazards and how to avoid them. The two highway construction deaths below involve dump truck operators who backed over workers in their blind spot. Both of the dump trucks had working back-up alarms. AN INSPECTOR KILLED BY A BACKING ASPHALT DUMP TRUCK: A 36­year­old construction inspector, Michael C.*(* Not the victim's real name), died when an asphalt dump truck backed over him. The truck was bringing asphalt to a road being paved. Michael was wearing an orange reflective vest and hardhat. The truck traveled about 770 feet in reverse before backing over Michael, who had his back to the vehicle. The truck driver said he was traveling about 5 to 10 miles per hour when the incident occurred. The driver never saw Michael. A CONSTRUCTION FLAG PERSON DIES AFTER BEING BACKED OVER BY A TRUCK: A 26­year­old construction flag person, Jaime H.*(* Not the victim's real name), died when a dump truck backed over him. The dump truck was bringing dirt to the center of a six­lane street and had just entered the lane closest to the center. This lane was separated from the rest of the lanes with tubular markers. The dump truck was backing into position to dump a load of dirt onto the center. Jaime had just let the dump truck into the separated lane. He was wearing an orange reflective vest and hardhat. The dump truck's back­up alarm was working properly. The dump truck traveled only a few feet in reverse before backing over Jaime. The driver looked into both of his tractor's side rear view mirrors and did not see Jaime, who had his back to the vehicle. RECOMMENDATIONS: Require drivers to get out and check behind their trucks before backing. Use a second person as a spotter when backing heavy equipment. Additional safety devices can help warn workers of a backing heavy vehicle. Other devices can warn drivers when someone is behind them. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Construction Equipment Construction Workers Fatalities Heavy Equipment Injuries Injury Prevention Safety Practices Warning Devices
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Publisher:
  California Department of Public Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Fact Sheet
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20060102
• Citation:
  Richmond, CA: California Department of Public Health, 2001 Apr; :1-2
• Contact Point Address:
  California Department of Public Health Occupational Health Branch (OHB), FACE Program 850 Marina Bay Parkway, Building P, 3rd Floor, Richmond, CA 94804
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Performing Organization:
  Public Health Institute
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19910930
• Source Full Name:
  FACE facts: backing can be deadly
• End Date:
  20060831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:968e5dad3eb1423dac143f2d2d171f46c7b80bf673ef714db4bf666273e9794c36819f4eb35708f913e77f4dbe4b78102c7e99b03e95af10d29c32148cda63c7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/229006/cdc_229006_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 457.06 KB ]