Abstract: Employee #1 was working with a backhoe operator on an excavation to prepare a work site for the installation of concrete forms. In the process of digging up dirt and old asphalt, the backhoe severed a buried telephone cable, interrupting phone service to a nearby laundromat. The telephone repair service was called and the crew then continued working on the site pending arrival of the repairman. They also decided to temporarily splice the cable wires back together so the laundry could continue using its phone. After all the digging was completed, the backhoe operator moved his vehicle aside and away from the excavation to allow room for Employee #1 to move the company dump truck out of the way. The backhoe operator and the owner of the laundry then began preparing the cable wires for splicing. When Employee #1 returned from moving the truck, he joined them. While they were working, the backhoe rolled back toward the excavation and traveled over the its 8 in. lip. Its rear bucket and arm were extended, and the bucket struck Employee #1 in the back with so much force that it also knocked aside his employer. Employee #1 said, "It broke my back," and then he began to have difficulty breathing. A coworker called 911, and the laundry owner administered CPR until EMS personnel arrived. Employee #1 was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The backhoe operator stated that he had shut down the engine and left the backhoe on its outriggers, with its front bucket down and the brakes set. He also said that in the aftermath of the accident he noticed that the outriggers and brakes were not as he had left them. This raised the possibility that Employee #1 didn't have enough room to get the truck past the backhoe, and had retracted the outriggers and/or released the brakes to make more room for the truck to pass. No one on the site heard or saw the backhoe move until the accident took place.