Deaths Due to Being Struck-By a Vehicle
Case Reports
The following Case Reports of vehicle accidents investigated
by OSHA illustrate how seemingly innocent workplace activities can have deadly consequences.
- An employee was operating a bulldozer at the top edge of a sloped drainage ditch.
The bulldozer began to slide down the side of the snow and ice covered excavation,
tipped over on its side, and pinned the operator under the roll bars. The driver
was not wearing a seatbelt.
- A contractor was operating a backhoe when an employee attempted to walk between the swinging
superstructure of the backhoe and a concrete wall. As the employee approached
from the operator's blind side, the superstructure hit the victim, crushing
him against the wall. Employees had not been trained in safe work practices,
and no barricades had been erected to prevent employee access to a hazardous
area.
- A safety "over travel"
cable attached between the frame and the dump box of a dump truck caught on
a protruding nut of an airbrake cylinder. This prevented the dump box
from being fully raised. The driver, apparently assuming that releasing
the cable would allow the dump box to continue upward, reached over the frame
and disengaged the cable with his right hand. The dump box then dropped
suddenly, crushing his head.
- A worker was driving a front-end loader up a dirt ramp onto a lowboy trailer. The
tractor was not centered and the tread slipped off the trailer. When
the tractor began to tip, the operator jumped from the cab. As he hit
the ground, the tractor's rollover protective structure fell on top of him,
crushing him. The tractor was not equipped with seatbelts.
- A worker was cutting concrete along the white center line on a four-lane
highway. Orange reflective barrels closed the left lane to traffic, which
was routed to a single lane from approximately 8 miles. To accommodate the
worker, three to four barrels had been moved into the active traffic lane,
and a flagperson was slowing down traffic and directing it slightly onto the
berm area. An approaching semi-tractor and trailer rig were exceeding the
speed limit when the driver hit the guardrail and lost control of his
vehicle. The tractor and trailer bounced back through the barrels and struck
the worker from behind, killing him.
- While acting as a flagger on a highway construction project, an employee
was struck and killed by an oncoming vehicle that failed to stop after being
directed to do so.
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