Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard:

OSH ACT of 1970 Section 5(a)(1): The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees, in that, an employee was exposed to struck-by hazards associated with vehicular traffic: a)DynoTune Speed & Performance, L.L.C. dba Performance Towing & Recovery at 20th Avenue Southeast, approximately 0.25 miles west of Highway 81, Watertown, SD 57201: On or about and at times prior to January 4, 2020, an employee was exposed to struck-by hazards while recovering a vehicle from a ditch. On the morning of January 4, 2020, a tow operator positioned an International 4300 tow truck in the east bound lane, facing traffic on an urban street, and exited the truck to remove a vehicle from the ditch. Once the stuck vehicle was removed, the operator was in the process of disconnecting the winch rigging when a motorist drove between the tow truck and the recovered vehicle, striking the tow operator and fatally injuring him. The tow truck was positioned facing oncoming vehicles in an active lane of traffic without the use of any advanced warning devices to protect the employee and alert oncoming traffic during vehicle recovery operations. This condition exposed an employee to struck-by hazards. Abatement Note: Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable abatement method to correct this hazard is to use advanced warning devices in accordance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), 2009 Edition, Chapter 6I., "Control of Traffic Through Traffic Incident Management Areas," Section 6I.01 General, paragraph five states; "The primary functions of TTC (Temporary Traffic Controls) at a traffic incident management area are to inform road users of the incident and to provide guidance information on the path to follow through the incident area. Alerting road users and establishing a well-defined path to guide road users through the incident area will serve to protect the incident responders and those involved in working at the incident scene and will aid in moving road users expeditiously past or around the traffic incident, will reduce the likelihood of secondary traffic crashes, and will preclude unnecessary use of the surrounding local road system."