Accident Report Detail

Accident Summary Nr: 122225.015 - Employee fractures chest when struck by truck in excavation

Accident Summary Nr: 122225.015 -- Report ID: 0830100 -- Event Date: 11/19/2019
Inspection Nr	Date Opened	SIC	NAICS	Establishment Name
1447020.015	11/20/2019		236220	Firstmark Construction, Llc

Abstract: At 12:30 p.m. on November 19, 2019, an employee working as a construction laborer for an commercial building contractor was working on a crew that had just finished installing a manhole at the bottom of an excavation. The next required task was to tamp down bedding gravel around the manhole at the bottom of the trench. Coworker #1 (Superintendent) had the jumping jack whacker in the back of his Chevy 2500 #WT-127 pickup truck. Coworker #1 backed the truck to the southwest side of the trench approximately 15 feet away from the edge. Coworker #1 directed Coworker #2, a Komatsu PC240LC Excavator Operator, to unload the jumping jack whacker from the back of the truck and into the trench so the crew could tamp the gravel. Coworker #1 then lined out the crew for 15 to 20 minutes before returning to his truck. Upon arriving at the truck, Coworker #1 noticed that his driver side WeatherTech floor mat was full of snow and other debris. He decided to clean the floor mat before continuing work. He slid back into the driver's seat and detached the floor mat from the truck floorboards. After clearing the debris from the mat, Coworker #1 replaced the mat without making sure it was properly latched in place. Coworker #1 then started to move the driver seat forward when the seat caught the unlatched mat and pushed it up against the accelerator. The truck was had been left in reverse gear after Coworker #1 backed his truck up to the trench to unload the jumping jack whacker. The truck started to move backwards towards the trench at which point Coworker #1 tried to enter the vehicle to stop it from going into the trench. Coworker #1 was unsuccessful and instead was thrown from the vehicle. The truck went into the trench striking the employee, who was operating the whacker at the bottom of the trench. The employee sustained chest fractures and was hospitalized.

Keywords: Backing Up, Blunt force, Blunt force trauma, Chest, Dirt Tamper, Excavation, Fracture, Installing, Lost Control, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Motor Vehicle, Multi-employer Worksite, Multiemployer, Pickup Truck, Rib, Rolling, Struck By, Trench, Truck, Unsecured, Vehicle, Vehicle In Gear

Accident Details
End Use		Project Type		Project Cost	Stories	Non-building Height	Fatality
Other building		New project or new addition				8

Employee Details
Employee #	Inspection Nr	Age	Sex	Degree of Injury	Nature of Injury	Occupation	Construction
1	1447020.015	55	M	Hospitalized injury		Construction Laborer	Distance of Fall: feet Worker Height Above Ground/Floor: feet Cause: Trenching, installing pipe Fatality Cause:

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