Inspection Detail

Inspection: 126776814 - Faber Construction Company

Inspection Information - Office: Utah Division Of Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

Employee #1 and a coworker were hauling material on a trailer behind a semi-truck up a dirt road to a ski resort. The road became too steep for the truck to continue, and they requested help from the resort. The resort sent a front end loader, and the employees used a 20 ft long chain to hook it to the truck. They doubled the chain leaving the distance between the vehicles at approximately 9 to 10 ft. The loader was pulling the truck up the steeper grade when Employee #1 signaled the loader operator to stop. The truck driver then moved forward to create some slack to unfasten the chain and the loader operator turned off his engine to talk to a coworker. Employee #1 had moved between the two vehicles to unfasten the chain when the loader's brakes failed and it rolled backward, crushing and killing Employee #1. The loader's parking brake was not engaged and the wheels were not chocked. The Summit County sheriff reported that in their tests, the loader's brakes had failed after an average of 2.5 minutes.

Keywords: CHOCK, FRONT END LOADER, BRAKE, EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT FAILURE, STEEP GRADE, CAUGHT BETWEEN, CRUSHED, TOWED EQUIPMENT