UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

On December 22, 2010, four employees were working in a shop in which heavy equipment was repaired. They were reattaching the blade on a Dresser Industries, Inc., TD-20G bulldozer after its engine had been replaced. One of them was operating a Kobelco SK220LC excavator to assist in reattaching the blade. After arriving at the site sometime after lunch, the excavator's operator lifted the blade arms and attached them to the bulldozer. The operator moved the excavator to the front of the bulldozer so that Employee #1 and one of his coworkers could attach the chain to the blade and to the excavator. The coworker was standing between the blade and the bulldozer's engine compartment. He was placing a chain through the center lift point on the blade as the excavator's operator was positioning the excavator's bucket to support the blade. While these tasks were being performed, another coworker had removed some tools and walked up to the shop, leaving the area entirely. Employee #1 was moving the chain to place it around the bucket of the excavator. The bucket moved forward, squeezing Employee #1 between the bulldozer blade and the bucket. Emergency medical technicians arrived and transported him to a local hospital. There, the emergency room doctor and a coroner pronounced him dead from severe blunt force trauma. A police officer also responded to the scene.