Too many deaths involve trucks and drivers.

By Daniel C. Brown

Truck-related accidents are killing workers on foot and, sometimes, the drivers themselves. Obviously, this need not happen.

From 1992 to 1998, 492 workers were killed in a highway or street construction work zone, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. In 318 fatalities, or more than half, of the vehicle- and equipment-related deaths in work zones, a worker on foot was struck by a vehicle. Everyone knows about workers being struck by passing traffic, but 154 deaths involved construction vehicles. And the primary sources for fatalities of workers on foot were trucks—fully 61%.

Photo: Mack

Training wheels helped Mack introduce its active suspension system at World of Concrete (below: with system one).

Photo: Mack

In Washington state, six workers were killed in recent years when construction trucks backed over them. The deaths occurred despite the trucks being equipped with audible backup alarms. As a result, the state’s Department of Labor and Industries began enforcing new regulations that require an on-the-ground spotter to signal when it is safe to back up—or a video camera that provides the truck driver with a full view of the area behind the truck.

In California, a 46-year-old truck driver was killed when he backed a 58-ton dump truck too close to the edge of a 70-foot-high embankment. A spotter told him to stop 8 feet before the edge and then gave the signal to dump. But the driver continued to back up. The ground under the rear wheels gave way and the truck tumbled over, front to back, and landed on its roof. The victim was wearing a lap-type seatbelt, and the cab was intact, but the man died of blunt head trauma suffered in the accident.

The accident site was a gravel pit that crushed rock, and the victim was not required to have a special license or certification to haul within the pit area. Investigators say the embankment berm at the edge was insufficient to stop the trucks at the edge, according to the California FACE report. (FACE is the Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program.) An investigator determined that employers, as part of their Illness and Injury Prevention Program, should

• ensure that berms are adequately built to prevent trucks from over-traveling and over-turning at dumping locations;
• train equipment operators to follow all operating signals they are given; and
• consider retrofitting trucks with shoulder-harness restraining systems to prevent upper body movement.

Finding Solutions
Surrounding ambient site noise often drowns out the sound of a truck’s backup alarm, says Allen Gerhard, a safety consultant and project safety manager for the Trump Organization at Chicago’s Trump Tower, now under construction.

“We always require a spotter on the ground to wear a fluorescent vest and guide truck drivers as they back up,” says Gerhard. “The spotter makes sure the path is clear.”

Another danger is that material can stick in truck beds on one side or the other and unbalance the dump body when it is raised. “It changes the center of gravity of the truck, and the truck can tip over in milliseconds,” says Gerhard. “We ensure through the use of a second person that nobody is around when the box is raised or lowered. Some companies run the engine exhaust down under the dump body so that the heat warms the box and prevents material from freezing inside.”

Poor truck maintenance can cause accidents. Gerhard recalls that his father once hired a company to blacktop the family home’s driveway. The load of hot mix asphalt arrived, and the driver began to dump the load. The lever to open and close the truck’s tailgate had broken, so the driver used a four-by-four timber to prop the tailgate partially open and allow asphalt to dump gradually. But then the timber fell away, the gate flew open, and all of the hot mix dumped out. The driver was literally buried up to his chest in hot asphalt. He was severely burned and later died.

To prevent such equipment-related accidents, drivers should thoroughly inspect their vehicles daily, says Paul Jansyn, safety director with IHC Construction Companies in Elgin, IL. “Before a driver gets into his vehicle in the morning, he must do a walk-around inspection,” says Jansyn. “He should check all fluid levels, right down to the windshield washer fluid, check the pumps for leaks, look at the tires, and make sure all lights are working. Make sure the backup alarm is working; it is a critical prevention item.”

IHC owns at least a dozen dump trucks, Jansyn says. The company performs six-month safety inspections on them as required by the Illinois Department of Transportation (DOT). IHC maintains a mechanics’ shop and keeps a file on each vehicle. Inspections are thorough and include checks of all lights, brakes, parking brakes, horn, fire extinguisher on board, hydraulic hoses, and required reflective tape.

Every IHC truck receives regular preventive maintenance. Fluids are changed regularly, and grease points are lubricated.

Employee training is also an important part of the safety program at IHC. “We use toolbox talks, seminars, annual meetings, and postings around the office,” says Jansyn. “We have an ongoing training program for employees, including drivers and mechanics, to communicate safety practices and any recent DOT amendments. We do training both internally and outsourced.”

Random drug and alcohol testing is another part of IHC’s safety program. It’s a DOT requirement for all drivers with commercial driver’s licenses. “We are included in a consortium of companies tested by a third-party firm,” says Jansyn. “Names are selected at random, and the drivers must submit urine samples or take a breath test for alcohol. And after any accident, the driver is tested for drugs and alcohol within two hours.”

Gerhard says truck drivers need to wear the same personal protective equipment as other workers on the job. No more sneakers, shorts, and tank tops. “They need good leather boots or shoes, full-length pants, a tee shirt with sleeves, and a hardhat, safety vest, and safety glasses,” says Gerhard. “The driver leaves the safety of his cab, and he needs to be protected from the hazards of the project.”

Under OSHA’s Multi-Employer Work Site Rules, the hiring contractor bears some responsibility for the safety of truck drivers. And commonly general contractors subcontract with a number of trucking firms, especially for larger projects.

“The federal government is saying, ‘All right, if you hold meetings and make subs responsible for quality and schedule, you can take some responsibility for subcontractors’ safety,’” says Gerhard. “Otherwise you’re saying to subs that you only care about profit, but not their worker safety.”

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

GEC - May/June 2006