Inspection Detail

Inspection: 2192177 - Damon Pursell Construction Company

Inspection Information - Office: Kansas City Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 2:45 a.m. on June 20, 1985, Employee #1, a truck spotter, was directing dump truck drivers at a landfill operation at the Missouri Pacific railroad yards, Kansas City, MO. He was using a flashlight as a pointer to indicate where the drivers were to drop their loads of dirt. Employee #1 was standing on the right side of a Terex bulldozer, model D700A, serial #720939, that was spreading dirt forward to the east. When this operation was complete, the bulldozer driver started to back up and looked around for Employee #1. He did not see the truck spotter and thought that he had gone to his pickup truck to get a cigar because the spotter always had a cigar in his mouth. The bulldozer operator completed backing up, moved over, and was starting to make another run forward when he noticed the truck spotter's cap on the ground. He stopped the bulldozer, jumped out, and found Employee #1 lying facedown toward the west. Employee #1 died of severe crushing injuries to his chest and abdomen, sustained when he was run over by the bulldozer. At the time of the accident coworkers were operating other pieces of equipment such as a road grader and sheepsfoot compactor.

Keywords: CHEST, ABDOMEN, SIGNALMAN, EARTHMOVING EQUIP, CRUSHED, BULLDOZER, RUN OVER, BACKING UP, INATTENTION