A 47-year-old road construction worker was killed while
working on the ground alongside a backhoe.
The employer was a highway paving contractor that worked on
projects throughout the Pacific Northwest. The firm employed 60 Oregon union
workers, with 20 at the jobsite where this incident occurred. The firm hired
apprentice and journeyman workers, and relied on the union to qualify and
provide training for equipment operators.
The employer had a comprehensive generic safety and health
policy, which included job descriptions with job safety analyses. The job
information instructed that no one should be allowed in hazard areas, but did
not specify the pinch point between the backhoe’s boom and the stabilizer as a
hazard area. A warning label was visible on the back of the backhoe, however,
bearing a graphic image and the message: STAY CLEAR OF THIS AREA WHEN MACHINE
IS OPERATING. YOU CAN BE CRUSHED BY SWINGING BOOM.
The firm had a safety committee and held regular meetings.
New employees received a safety vest and hard hat, a tour of the jobsite,
showing the locations of first-aid kits and fire extinguishers, and a review of
job responsibilities.
The journeyman equipment operator, hired through the local
union hall, had worked only two days with the paving contractor prior to the
incident. Safety training and certification was conducted through the union.
The operator was exempted from the union training program, because he had 3
years of experience as a journeyman excavation equipment operator with his
previous employer.
The worker was a journeyman equipment operator working
together with an apprentice, who operated the backhoe. The two road workers
were preparing to pull pins from concrete barricades along the roadside, so
they could be moved.
The journeyman had been on the job with this company only 2
days, and the two workers had never worked together before. The journeyman
retrieved two heavy steel pin pullers and a chain from the front loader bucket
and walked to the rear of the backhoe, where he tossed one of the pin pullers
into the cab.
The pin puller fell on a foot pedal that controlled the
backhoe boom swing, and the boom instantly swung sideways and crushed the
journeyman operator against the raised rear stabilizer.
The apprentice operator heard the journeyman yell and
swiveled to the rear, where he saw the heavy pin on top of the foot-pedal
control. He swung the boom back to its neutral position to free the journeyman
and called for emergency help.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
CAUSE OF DEATH:
Crushing chest trauma
RECOMMENDATIONS
a.
Workers on the ground near an operating backhoe
must never stand in the pinch point of the backhoe boom.
b.
Foot-pedal controls on a backhoe should have a
guard or other disabling mechanism to prevent accidental activation of the boom
when not in use.
c.
Employers must regularly reinforce safety
training, even with experienced workers, and make sure safety materials and
equipment operator instructions are reviewed for each specific machine used by
a worker.
REFERENCES
1.
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation.
2.
Iowa FACE. (2003). Operator crushed by backhoe
boom while doing maintenance [Case No. 99IA09301]. Available online: www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/stateface/ia/99ia093.html
3.
Oklahoma FACE. (n.d.). A concrete saw operator
was killed when he was pinned between the boom and the rear of a backhoe [Case
No. 03-OK-096-01]. Available online: www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/stateface/ok/03ok096.html
4.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health. (2004). Preventing injuries when working with hydraulic excavators and
backhoe Loaders [Pub. 2004-107]. Available online: www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/wp-solutions/2004-107/default.html
5.
Oregon OSHA. Backhoe safety [VHS #1269].
AudioVisual Library. Order online: www.cbs.state.or.us/external/osha/standards/avlibad.html