S a f e t y T o o l b o x T o p i c s

These incidents are all true and all could have been prevented. 

What could have been done differently in order to prevent these accidents from happening?

• At approximately 3:00 p.m. on October 10, 1984, Employees #1 and #2 were refueling a forklift with gasoline from an open 5 gallon plastic bucket. Employee #2 lit a cigarette lighter 10 inches away from the open bucket. The gasoline vapors ignited and Employee #1 dropped the bucket, which still contained 2 gallons of gasoline. Employee #1 was engulfed in flames as he jumped off the forklift, sustaining burns over 60 percent of his body. In a signed statement, Employee #2, age 18, stated that he lit the lighter as a joke, trying to scare Employee #1. The plastic bucket, a completely open container, was not an approved safety can.
• At approximately 7:30 a.m. on September 1, 2009, Employee #1 attempted to jump into the cab of his truck as the truck began to roll backwards. He fell to the ground and was run over by the truck. Employee #1 died.
• Employee #1 was exiting his employer's truck cab (passenger side) when he was struck by a passing garbage truck, causing him to fall to the ground. Employee #1 was run over by the rear wheels of the garbage truck. Employee #1 suffered serious fracture injuries to his right leg and hip. Employee #1 was hospitalized.
• At approximately 2:20 p.m. on June 12, 2009, Employees #1 and #2 were in a shop placing blocks under a large steel plate that was to be sandblasted on a flatbed trailer. The steel plate was suspended by a forklift on one side, and by a polyester sling attached to an overhead crane on the other side. When the sling failed, the plate fell. Employee #1 was struck in the head by a block and was killed. Employee #2 was struck above his eye by a block and was hospitalized for a laceration.
• On June 30, 2008, Employee #1 was part of a work crew consisted of a foreman, a lead man and four laborers. The crew was assigned to unload 40-pound sandbags from a truck. The sandbags are used to support the installation of a 36-in. diameter natural gas pipeline. The ambient temperature at the time of the incident was approximately 110-degrees Fahrenheit. The crew had water and ice to drink and shade was provided by a shuttle bus at the worksite. Employee #1 was overcome by the heat at approximately 3:30 p.m. and was unresponsive to verbal instructions and physical stimuli and displayed signs of heat stress and a possible heart attack. Employee #1 was air-evacuated to hospital and passed away the following morning at approximately 9:30 a.m. on July 1, 2008.
• On July 19, 2006, Employee #1 was working for a firm that dealt with water, sewer, and utility lines. He was using a jackhammer and shoveling concrete and asphalt outdoors in the direct sunlight with temperatures ranging from 87 to 94 degrees Fahrenheit, when he became disoriented due to the stresses imposed by the heat. He was helped to recuperation, but he became unresponsive. He was taken to a medical center, where he was hospitalized for three days for treatment for heat stroke and related complications.
• On September 22, 2008, Employee #1 was kneeling on his left knee while rigging a trench box. The trench box was to be attached to a slip hook on a clevis at the end of an excavator boom that was resting above the employee, on the top edge of the trench box. A coworker, the excavator's operator, was at the machine's controls. Without warning, the boom of the excavator slipped off the trench box, fell, and landed on employee's right foot. Employee was hospitalized.
• On July 23, 2008, Employee #1 was working in a 3 ft deep excavation. He was pulling a water line under the road to replace the existing water line. A coworker was using a back hoe to assist in pulling the pipe through. The motor of the backhoe was running. As the coworker climbed back into the cab, he inadvertently hit the controls for the backhoe bucket. The bucket swung around and struck Employee #1 in the head. Employee #1 suffered a concussion and was hospitalized. The employee was not wearing a hard hat.
• Employee #1 was using a steel alloy chain sling connected to an overhead hoist to lift a steel plate. The plate became disengaged from the hooks on the chain and fell, crushing Employee #1. He was killed.
• On January 29, 2007, an employee was welding inside a bell hole approximately 4 ft long by 3 ft wide by 3 ft deep. While the welding torch was on, he laid it down in order to reposition himself. He accidentally kicked the welding hose, and the welding torch accidentally burned his face. The worker was not able to move because his arms were pinned by his body, which was inside the bell hole. The worker was immediately pulled out by the foreman, who treated the welder's facial burn. The welder was hospitalized for treatment.