Accident Report Detail

Accident Summary Nr: 200810877 - Employee Dies From Asphyxiation- Chain Landed On His Chest

Accident Summary Nr: 200810877 -- Report ID: 0627400 -- Event Date: 12/01/2000
Inspection Nr	Date Opened	SIC	NAICS	Establishment Name
300581659	12/04/2000	1629	0	Mike Emery Dba Mike Emery Dirt Services

Abstract: Employee #1, who works for BFI, died from asphyxiation when the chain on the ditching machine came off causing the machine to land on top of his chest. Employee #1 was digging a ditch to place an underground electrical circuit to a new fuel storage tank. While digging this ditch, the chain came off. The Model Number of the Ditch Witch ditcher was 20 J. Employee #1 took the ditcher to an enclosed warehouse area on site. He placed the chain back in position and then started the unit. The unit later was found on top of Employee #1, crushing his chest. He died from asphyxiation. It is not clear whether the ditching machine was in gear and it caught him and then drove up on top of him or after the unit was started Employee #1 got off the unit while it was still in gear and it caught him and drove up on top of him. No witnesses observed the incident.

Keywords: CHAIN, CHEST, ASPHYXIATED, DITCH

Accident Details
End Use		Project Type		Project Cost	Stories	Non-building Height	Fatality
Pipeline		Maintenance or repair		Under $50,000			X

Employee Details
Employee #	Inspection Nr	Age	Sex	Degree of Injury	Nature of Injury	Occupation	Construction
1	300581659			Fatality	Asphyxia	Occupation not reported	Distance of Fall: feet Worker Height Above Ground/Floor: feet Cause: Trenching, installing pipe Fatality Cause: Crushed/run-over of non-operator by operating cons

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