Category: Worker Deaths

On Thursday, October 19, 2017, a worker was allegedly struck and killed by a dump truck in Pasadena, Texas, at a construction site close to San Jacinto College. The truck had been backing up for the purpose of dumping a load of dirt, authorities say. The incident is still under investigation, and no further details were released. Several people in Texas have been killed by heavy equipment at construction sites this year and perhaps more, since not all workplace accidents make the news.

• Earlier this month near Poth, Texas, a construction worker from New Braunfels died after being struck by heavy equipment at a construction site.
• On September 2, a 38-year-old man was killed in a construction accident close to Georgetown, Texas. A grader, which is heavy equipment that flattens surfaces, struck and killed the man as he was installing gas lines.
• In March of this year, a worker at a Carrollton, Texas, construction site was run over and killed by a heavy equipment construction vehicle.
• In February, a piece of heavy equipment that was being moved killed a 43-year-old worker out of El Campo when it suddenly broke loose from the crane and fell to the ground.
• In January, a worker was killed at a construction site when he got caught and crushed between two pieces of machinery. Also in January, a worker was struck by a truck in Hutchins, Texas.
• In another tragedy in January, a 19-year-old woman was killed at a Bexar County, Texas, construction site when a digger was dropped on her as she was at the bottom of a 15-foot hole.

Employers have a responsibility to ensure that workers are safe in workplace environments. Obviously, special care should always be taken when people are working around heavy equipment.

–Guest Contributor

On April 5, 2017, in El Campo, Texas, one construction worker was killed and another critically injured in an industrial accident that occurred at about 11:30 a.m. The fatal accident occurred at a construction site on Marek Lane. According to authorities, a 70-year-old front-end loader operator was moving a large tire and set of wheels. Two men were crushed by the tire when the operator set the load down. Twenty-three-year-old Anthony Pedro Cruz died from his injuries that day. Fifty-five-year-old Jose Luna was transported to a Houston hospital, where he was said to be in critical condition.

When the tragic accident occurred, the front-end loader operator was being directed by another work, but neither of them saw Cruz or Luna. The incident is being investigated by the Wharton County Sheriff’s Office. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) will also conduct an investigation; it’s standard procedure when a fatal workplace accident occurs.

A foundational approach to addressing this type of hazard is to have a spotter. Employees need to be trained on where blind spots are located. Those who work around industrial vehicles benefit from spending time in the driver’s seat. This allows them to get a clearer understanding of where blind spots are and what the driver can see.

OSHA provides specific safety standards regarding struck-by hazards, which covers incidents like this tragic construction fatality that occurred last week. A couple of those guidelines follow:

• Workers must be highly visible at all times of the day or night. Red or orange vests must be worn.
• Workers on or near a construction zone are advised not to place themselves in a situation of being at risk of being struck by a vehicle or getting caught in a situation that has no escape route.

Employers have a responsibility to ensure that workers have a safe workplace environment. When they fail in that responsibility, they are subject to being cited and fined by OSHA.

–Guest Contributor

This week at least two workers in the U.S. were killed in on-the-job injuries, and investigations about each incident are underway. In San Diego County, California, a 51-year-old man was killed when a concrete wall collapsed, crushing him. In Gilbert, Arizona, a 34-year-old steel worker died on the job after being struck in the head by a steel beam. The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will conduct investigations, and citations for safety violations could follow. Whenever OSHA releases results of safety violations, all other businesses in the U.S. in the same or a similar industry are responsible to become familiar with and abide by any new OSHA requirements that pertain to them.

The Arizona accident occurred at about 7:40 a.m. on Monday, April 3, 2017. After the man was struck by the steel beam, paramedics arrived on the scene, applied treatment, and transported him to a trauma center nearby, where the worker soon died.

The fatal workplace injury that occurred in California also happened on Monday. The 51-year-old man had been digging a trench for a new wall at an auto dealership when an existing cinderblock wall fell on him. Firefighters worked for approximately an hour and a half to move the rubble. When they reached the worker, he had already died. Another worker on the scene suffered mild injuries and was transported to a hospital.

Employers are provided with detailed instructions on how to keep employees safe in virtually any type of work situation. Employers have a responsibility to ensure that workplace environments are safe for workers. Texas employers, as in all states, that share either of above-named industries are also responsible to become familiar with related workplace incidents, in order to take recommended actions to avoid similar occurrences.

–Guest Contributor

A fatal construction accident occurred on Monday, March 6, 2017, in North Carrollton, Texas. In the Castle Hills development project at the corner of Old Denton Road and Windhaven Parkway, a heavy-equipment construction vehicle ran over a worker, killing him. Police said no criminal charges are expected to be filed in the case. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will conduct an immediate investigation, which is standard procedure in a workplace fatality.

Backover fatalities occur at an alarming rate. The following are figures in a report on backover fatalities that occurred in a recent five-year period:

• Dump truck – 67 deaths
• 18-wheeler – 40
• Truck – 30
• Forklift – 21
• Garbage truck – 20
• Pick-up truck – 16

OSHA has standards specifically designed to prevent backover incidents. In rare circumstances, OSHA requires that a vehicle have a spotter or a backup alarm when backing up a vehicle with an obstructed view to the rear. Generally, it is not required by OSHA that forklifts and other powered industrial trucks be equipped with backup alarms. Employers are prohibited, however, from removing existing warning devices such as backup alarms.

OSHA has the following rule within Safety and Health Regulations for Construction – Motor Vehicles, Mechanized Equipment, and Marine Operators, pertaining to a construction worksite:

• A vehicle must be backed up only when an observer has signaled that it’s safe to do so.

The construction industry is one of the most dangerous industries for workers, with a large percentage of annual workplace fatalities and injuries. Employers have a duty to take special precautions to protect workers, particularly in all areas that have been identified as hazardous.

–Guest Contributor