Inspection Detail

Inspection: 110466158 - Ebert Builders Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Wichita Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 7:05 a.m. on August 17, Employee #1 arrived at a worksite located between mile markers 341 and 345 of I-70 in Topeka, KS. Ebert Construction Company, Inc., had been subcontracted by Shilling Construction, the contractor, to do patching work on I-70. The site had been operational for 3 days. Signs and barrels had been placed according to regulation and, as required in the contract by the contractor, had been inspected by a Kansas Department of Transportation metro engineer. Employee #1 was driving a company truck inside the barrel barricades, 5 ft from the edge of the road and approximately 7 ft from the traffic. As Employee #1 opened the door and exited from the building, the driver of a passenger vehicle passed through the construction site, observed the flagger, panicked, and applied her brakes quickly and hard. The car behind her swerved to the left to avoid hitting her car. The third vehicle, a pick-up truck, managed to stop. The fourth vehicle, a semi trailer truck, could not stop in time; the trailer truck did not swerve, but ran into the pickup truck, pushing the pickup truck off to the right side into the barricade area. The pickup truck ran into Employee #1, catching him between the open truck door and the front of the pickup and then pushing and dragging him 42 ft from the point of impact. Employee #1 was killed.

Keywords: TRAFFIC ACCIDENT, CONSTRUCTION, DRAGGED, COLLISION, STRUCK BY, PICKUP TRUCK, RUN OVER