Inspection Detail

Inspection: 317011542 - Superior Transportation

Inspection Information - Office: Sc Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation

Investigation Summary

On November 7, 2013, Employee #1 was working with two coworkers. One coworker was a truck driver and the other was a front escort driver. The employees were moving a 114 ft long, 7 ft high steel and concrete bridge beam from one location to another. They had two escort trucks, one for the front and one for the rear. The steel and concrete bridge beam was being transported by a 18-wheeler being pulled by a Kenworth truck, Number 3180. The beam weight approximately 65,000 pounds. The overall length of the tractor trailer was approximately 143.5 ft. The front escort truck was a Ford F450 with a reading service body. This truck was green and was a 2000 model. The rear escort truck was a 2008 Ford F250. They had made it to the exit of an interstate northbound ramp and about midway through their trip. The employees had stopped at this location to lock the rear axle on the trailer, so it could not be steered remotely from the rear escort truck for the rest of the trip. During this process, the Vanguard commercial motor (also known as a pony motor) was turned off, the gas to the Vanguard commercial motor was also cut off as well as the rear axle was locked, so that the trailer would run straight on the interstate. After this task was completed, the employees went back to their vehicles to continue the rest of the trip. Employee #1, the rear escort driver, had radioed the truck driver, on the Citizens Band (CB) radio, that all had been completed and everything was clear. The truck driver started getting everything ready with the trip. The truck driver released the brakes and started looking in the rear view mirror for a chance to pull the rig back onto the Interstate. While the truck driver was busy doing that, Employee # 1 realized that he had failed to turn the gas off to the pony motor. He exited the rear escort truck and went over to the passenger side of the trailer. There was a step on the side of the trailer that would allowed Employee #1 to safely gain access to the trailer and shut off the gas, but Employee #1 decided instead to go in between the third and fourth axle on the trailer. The truck driver, had no idea that Employee #1, the rear escort driver, had exited his truck and was between the trailer axles. So when the coworker started moving the truck and trailer, the trailer rolled over Employee # 1, crushing and killing him on the side of the road. As the truck driver moved the truck and trailer onto the interstate, he realized that Employee #1 was not moving the rear escort truck behind him. The truck driver started calling Employee #1 on the CB radio and then his cell phone but got no response. He then called the other coworker, the front escort driver, and told him he had called Employee#1 on the CB radio and his cell phone and had gotten no response. This coworker also called Employee #1 on the CB radio and the cell phone and did not get a response. Next, a call was made to the office and they told the employees to travel to a rest area about 5 miles down the road and stay there until they could figure out what was going on with Employee # 1. The truck driver had travel down a little further when he got a call from the office saying Employee#1 had been killed and to exit the truck from the highway and stop. He did this and waited for the officers to come to where he was. When they got there, they sent the other coworker back to the northbound ramp, where they had previously stopped. There were no witnesses to the incident and Employee# 1 was found dead on the side of the road by a volunteer fireman, who had summoned emergency medical personnel as well as called the phone number on the side of Employee #1's escort truck. A coroner ruled the cause of death was work related, severe crushing injury resulting in asphyxiation death. No foul play was suspected.

Keywords: CAUGHT BETWEEN, STRUCK BY, TRACTOR TRAILER, TRAILER