Trucking & Construction Fatality Narrative: Heavy Equipment Mechanic Dies Repairing Excavator

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 36-year-old heavy equipment mechanic died while repairing a large excavator. He worked for his employer, a mechanical contractor, for three weeks. He had several years of work experience as a mechanic and operator. His job duties included maintaining construction vehicles, trucks, and trailers. He was married with young children. The mechanic was installing a swing drive into the de-energized excavator. A supervisor showed up at 9 am to check the work and arranged to have new hydraulic hoses delivered to the mechanic. He then left the jobsite. After the hoses were dropped off, an assistant came to help the mechanic. They completed installing the swing drive just before noon. The assistant then left the site as the mechanic planned to install the hoses by himself. Another supervisor who was getting ready to leave asked the mechanic if he needed anything. The mechanic said no, so the supervisor left him alone at the site. At 1:45 pm, the assistant texted and called the mechanic but got no response. The first supervisor texted the mechanic almost an hour later but also got no response and thought he went home. At about 5:30 pm, the mechanic's wife left a voice message on the employer's call service asking about her husband. A worker heard the message and texted the supervisor, but the text failed to reach him. The mechanic's wife also called a family friend. The friend did not know where the mechanic was but was able to get directions to the site from a worker. The worker also contacted the supervisor, whose GPS showed the mechanic's service truck was still at the site. Now around 40 miles away, he began driving back to the site. The friend arrived there first, found the mechanic unresponsive and upside down in the swing drive compartment, and called 911. First responders pronounced the mechanic dead at the scene. The medical examiner reported the mechanic died from suffocation caused by being trapped in a head-down position. Following the incident, investigators found: The mechanic had prior experience installing excavator swing drives. Ratchet straps, a come-along, and tools for the job posed trip hazards near the swing drive compartment. The boom side operator's cab window was shattered presumably when the incident happened. The employer had no written safety policy for lone workers. REQUIREMENTS: You must provide your employees a workplace free from recognized hazards that are causing, or are likely to cause, serious injury or death. RECOMMENDATIONS: FACE investigators concluded that, to help prevent similar occurrences, employers should: Develop and enforce policies and standard operating procedures (SOP) in their written accident prevention program (APP) that: Prohibit lone work and instead require using a buddy system where workers team up so they can observe each other and assist quickly when someone becomes endangered. Require a formal job hazard analysis (JHA) be conducted jointly by supervisors and workers to identify hazards for lone work. Prevent hazards by implementing less hazardous work practices. If lone work is unavoidable, provide and require use of lone worker monitoring technology or communication procedures, such as two-way radios, in-person check-ins, wearable panic buttons or worker down apps for cell phones. Require supervisors to routinely observe workers to ensure they are following policies and procedures. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Excavation Equipment Fatalities Heavy Equipment Mechanics Safety Practices
• 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:20069391
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-251-2024, 2024 Mar; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Trucking & construction fatality narrative: heavy equipment mechanic dies repairing excavator
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:522efb2e4cd86b8624e24cc9fc1f893760a3611d777c3032d7e8b99c37af62b4ddc51b7291837e2917c8a1a3ad478e6425f3ddca0722ff32f065e1b963f18c5c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/229211/cdc_229211_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 295.15 KB ]