By Daniel C. Brown

On March 18, 2002, Dave Drysdale was driving a soil compactor south along the edge of a paved road that ran between two excavated spoil areas. The soil was being trucked to the two areas from a construction project at Perry High School in Perry, NY, according to court documents. The spoil piles infilled an area beside the paved road and created a plateau level with the road and dropping off at a 35-degree slope.

A coworker of Drysdale’s testified that his roller was partially on the pavement and partially on the grassy area bordering the road. The soil compactor slid off the side of the grassy embankment and rolled over, pinning Drysdale and killing him. The roller was not equipped with a rollover protective structure (ROPS), although it was an option available for the equipment.

Was Drysdale’s employer at fault? Not in this case. While OSHA has no specific standard relating to soil and asphalt compactors, the agency does have a letter of interpretation dated March 16, 1998, that deals with ROPS and compactors. Employers are responsible under the general duty clause (paragraph 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act). The section requires employers to furnish “a place of employment that is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.”

To prove a violation of Section 5(a)(1), OSHA must show that

• a condition or activity in the workplace presented a hazard to an employee;
• the hazard was recognized;
• the hazard was likely to cause death or serious physical harm;
• a feasible means existed to eliminate or materially reduce the hazard.

The evidence must show that the employer knew, or with the exercise of reasonable diligence could have known, of the violative conditions.

Following Drysdale’s accident and death, OSHA cited his employer, Thomann Asphalt Paving Corp., for a violation of Section 5(a)(1). After testimony from Thomann employees and various experts, the court ruled that the secretary of labor “failed to establish that the installation of ROPS on roller-compactors was a recognized safety precaution necessary to prevent rollovers in the conditions present at Thomann’s work site.” Further, the secretary failed to show that training actions taken by Thomann were deficient. Thomann was ruled not guilty of a violation of 5(a)(1).

Thomann employees testified that the Perry school project did not involve compacting slopes or require employees to operate roller-compactors near the edges of uncompacted soils. The cited roller was used only to seal the top of a flat, previously compacted spoil pile. Uncontradicted testimony establishes that Thomann’s operators were trained not to roll compactors near the edge of a fill, and to roll perpendicular, never parallel, to the edge. Employees were closely supervised and corrected when they failed to follow the rules.

For the record, OSHA does have a ROPS work group that was formed by the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health on October 19, 2004. The group discusses various existing standards and produces a report. Various industry experts told this magazine that for 20 years or more, they have heard rumors that OSHA would set forth a ROPS standard for compaction equipment.

Use the ROPS
The evidence shows that industry is leading OSHA on this issue. While ROPS may not be a specific OSHA requirement on compactors, most manufacturers install them as standard equipment on virtually all ride-on rollers. “In the past 10 years in North America, there has been a definitive move for most manufacturers to provide ROPS as a standard feature for earthmoving compactors,” says Dale Starry Jr., marketing manager for agency and industry associations at Ingersoll Rand Co., a major compactor manufacturer. “And we’ve done that proactively in the absence of OSHA regulations that require it.”

Only in the past five years have North American manufacturers established ROPS as standard equipment on double-drum asphalt compactors, Starry says. European manufacturers, on the other hand, typically use EROPS, or enclosed rollover protective structures.

“We very strongly recommend that the ROPS not be removed,” says Starry. “And if it must be removed, for transport or some other reason, we recommend replacing it with new hardware so that the bolts can be properly torqued into place.”

Are contractors using ROPS on their soil compactors? “The very very high majority of soil machines that I see out there have that safety device in place,” says Starry.

“We will not take a ROPS structure off for anybody,” says Steve Wilson, manager, product development and support, BOMAG Americas Inc. “Any compactor built by us or shipped within the past eight years has a ROPS structure on it.” He says the vast majority of compactors he sees are equipped with ROPS, and many have both rollover protection and falling object protective structures (FOPS).

Use Your Seatbelt
In testimony presented for the OSHA v Thomann Asphalt case, one safety professional said the industry has deliberately refrained from requiring ROPS on all compactors after weighing the competing requirements and hazards involved with compactor operation. Some operators, this theory goes, have trouble seeing over the drum of many rollers as they are designed. So they stand up to see better. And because seatbelts must be used on all equipment with ROPS, the installation of ROPS would prevent them from standing and seeing the path ahead.

“To stand up is irresponsible,” says Starry. “The ROPS is low enough so that the operator cannot stand comfortably. We want them to sit down and wear their seatbelts. Lives have been saved by seatbelts, just as with cars.”

As for visibility, Starry says the industry commonly uses a “1-meter-by-1-meter” guideline. That means an operator sitting in the seat can see an object 1 meter in height at a distance of 1 meter in front of the roller. “Nearly all machines today have been designed so that it’s not necessary to stand,” says Starry.

Enough said. Rollers need to have ROPS mounted on them, and operators must sit down and wear their seatbelts.

Daniel C. Brown is the owner of TechniComm, a communications business based in Des Plaines, IL.

GEC - March/April 2006