Abstract: At 10:50 a.m. on October 14, 2024, Employee #1, a truck driver for a transportation company based in Gary, Indiana, was rewrapping ratchet straps on a flatbed trailer in front of a project entrance. An excavator, equipped with a bucket and thumb attachment, was being used by a construction firm to unload timber mats from the trailer. While offloading a mat from the passenger side, the bucket struck a mat on the far side, causing it to slide off the trailer on the driver's side. The driver had exited the designated all-clear position and was walking along the far side of the trailer, out of view of the equipment operator and spotter. The timber mat struck the employee and pinned him beneath it as it fell to the ground. Emergency services were called, and the incident resulted in a fatality.