A 43-year old male construction foreman was killed when he
was struck by a falling steel I-beam pile.
The victim worked for a construction company in northern New
Jersey.
On the day of the incident, the
victim and four other workers were in the process of pile-driving steel I-beam
piles into several pits (each pit containing either three or eight piles) at
the construction site of a large parking garage.
The victim’s job was to stand in the pit and guide the beam
that was being hoisted by the pile driver (which functions as a crane and a
hammer) to the appropriate location to be hammered.
While the victim was guiding the pile, before it was
properly located, the hammer dropped from its upper position. Since the pile was not in the proper
location, the hammer struck the pile on its side, instead of the top.
The fatal injury occurred when the beam then fell to the
side, striking the victim.
We recommend following the following safety guidelines to
prevent similar deadly accidents:
- Employers should ensure that pile driver operators are properly trained on the safe operation of the pile driving equipment;
- Employers should ensure that pile driver operators are periodically re-evaluated on the safe operation of pile driving equipment;
- A health and safety plan based on job hazard analysis must be developed and followed;
- Employers should incorporate specific procedures when a worker is inside an excavation pit into the health and safety plan. Here, the conditions at the bottom of the pit were muddy and could have hindered the egress of the unfortunate victim