Inspection Detail

Inspection: 125829861 - Pacific Lumber Co

Inspection Information - Office: Sacramento District Office

Investigation Summary

On February 16, 2005, Employee #1, an equipment operator, who worked for a logging company, was driving into woods to plant trees. He was driving a 4-wheel ATV, as was a coworker. The coworker was driving the same type of ATV with a trailer loaded with seedlings. Employee #1 was pushing on the trailer of seedlings with the front of his ATV. He was pushing the ATV through a water bar. The water bar (a ditch in a trail or woods road that diverts surface water off the trail or road surface to avoid or minimize soil erosion) was deep and narrow. The front tire of Employee #1's ATV rode up on the tire of the other ATV, as the trailer crossed over the water bar. This caused the ATV that Employee #1 was driving to climb up on its rear tires. Employee #1 lost control of his ATV, and the handle bar struck him in the face, as the vehicle rolled back into the water bar. Employee #1 was pinned under the ATV when it landed upside down. The handle bar fractured his jaw. Employee #1 was hospitalized.

Keywords: FRACTURE, VEHICLE, PINNED, ROLL-OVER, EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, DRIVER, STRUCK BY, FACE, LOGGING, LOST CONTROL