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Wrongful Death West Virginia Hazards of Construction Dump Truck
Hazards of Unintended Movement of Dump Truck Body Beds
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reviewed its Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) accident data, and identified 31 accidents during the past 10 years that involved the unanticipated release or movement of an elevated truck bed. Nearly all of the accidents resulted in fatalities. OSHA urges employers whose employees service or maintain dump trucks to implement an effective Lockout/Tagout Program in general industry settings or to implement the above referenced construction standards in construction settings to prevent unintended releases or movement of the truck beds which can result in a employee’s death or serious injuries.
Typically, employee exposures occurred during routine maintenance or during troubleshooting activities. Work performed under the raised beds involved repairs to air or hydraulic lines, framework welding, electrical wires and release cables, power take-off shafts, hydraulic pumps, fuel pumps, and routine greasing. Body props were not used, or were used improperly, in a majority of the accidents. In a few cases, the props were used but they failed. Causes for the sudden movement of the dump bodies included: inadvertent control operation, inadvertently pulling a release cable, hydraulic failure, and premature reconnecting of an air line.
The following three sample OSHA cases illustrate some of the problems faced when using non-engineered dump body props. (Ref: OSHA IMIS).
Example 1: An employee was replacing the rear stabilizer bar on a tandem dump truck. The dump bed was raised and the safety support was in place. At some point, the lift hydraulics for the dump bed failed, allowing the weight of the bed to rest on the safety support bracket which also failed, causing the bed to come down and crush the employee.
Example 2: Two employees were installing a dump bed onto a dump truck. The dump bed was being raised up and down by slings attached to a bridge crane. The dump bed had been raised and lowered several times to make sure that the bed was aligned on the truck chassis correctly. The back of the dump bed was bolted in place. The dump bed was then raised one more time so that a tubular rod could be placed under the bed to hold it in the upright position while one employee worked under the raised bed. While placing the tubular rod under the dump bed, the safety latch on the crane hook failed. This allowed the slings to come off the hook. The dump bed pinned both of the employee’s arms under the bed between the chassis and the dump bed.
Example 3: An employee was greasing the U-joints on a 1970 Mack dump truck. He had raised the dump bed and had propped it up with a 4’’ by 6’’ by 8’ piece of wood. The wood dislodged and the bed came down onto his back, pinning and seriously injuring him. The employee later died.
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