Inspection Detail

Inspection: 303854699 - Southland Industries

Inspection Information - Office: Baltimore Area Office

Investigation Summary

An employee was working with a crew that was installing PVC drain pipes. The crew had discovered the pipe laying in the westerly direction in the trench needed to be excavated another 3 inches. The employee instructed the backhoe operator assigned to his crew to straddle the shallow trench and to dig out the trench an additional 3 inches. The employee then turned his back to the machine and bent down to the end of the existing PVC pipe, to remove tape from blocking the open end. The operator moved his machine into position over the trench and proceeded to lower the front bucket to the ground. The operator swung around in his seat in order to access the controls that operated the digging attachment. According to the operator, it was several moments after he had turned the seat around before he was able to face the employee. Then the machine lurched backwards and pinned the employee, faced down, under one of the machine's rear tires. Immediately, the operator used the machine's outriggers to raise the machine up off of the employee. The employee died later that evening of his injuries.

Keywords: DRAIN PIPE, TRENCH DIGGER, CRUSHED, BACKHOE