Inspection Detail

Inspection: 309340909 - Duda Cable Construction, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Erie Area Office

Investigation Summary

On January 7, 2008, Employee #1, a flagman, was on a telecommunications cable installation crew that included another flagger, one truck driver, and one coworker in an aerial lift. After the morning work session, the crew prepared to break for lunch. Since they had only one vehicle (the aerial lift truck), everyone was going to ride this vehicle back to the staging area to pick up the other company vehicle. The aerial lift operator jumped into the cab with the driver. Employee #1 and the other flagger jumped onto the bed of the aerial lift truck. At some point during the ride back, Employee #1's hard hat fell off onto the roadway. He yelled for the driver to stop and allow him to retrieve it. The driver stopped the truck and put it in reverse as Employee #1 jumped from the truck to retrieve his hard hat. The driver, not knowing Employee #1 had already exited the truck bed, continued in reverse and backed over Employee #1 before he knew what happened. The coworkers yelled and jumped from the truck to assist Employee #1, but to no avail. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Keywords: TELECOM WORK, WORK RULES, CONSTRUCTION, FLAGMAN, STRUCK BY, RUN OVER, COMMUNICATION, AERIAL LIFT, BACKING UP