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Transportation-related deaths can be prevented
22 Dec, 2008 By: Barbara Mulhern LM Direct! Buckling up before heading out on the road is one good way to reduce the risk of a vehicle-related traumatic injury or fatality. |
A 44-year-old landscape worker was struck by a vehicle while walking next to a company-owned truck parked on the paved shoulder of a road. Safety devices had not been adequately placed around the truck to protect the employee from oncoming traffic. He sustained multiple injuries and died a week later.
In another incident, a landscape company employee found the 64-year-old owner of the business caught between a dump truck and a building. The truck had moved approximately 25 feet from where it was last seen parked. The worker called 911, but it was too late. The company owner was crushed to death. The truck, which had a trailer attached to it, had a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 11,000 pounds.
In still another incident, an employer was driving a truck down a mountain after he and an employee finished unloading a tree and bush trimmings into a landfill. The employer lost control of the truck on the curved paved road. It slid off the side of the road into a five foot deep embankment. The truck fell on its right side and pinned the worker, who had been in the passenger seat of the vehicle. He died instantly.
 Carefully tying down equipment on your truck-trailer will help ensure it does not fall off on the road and result in a serious injury incident. |
These are among the many transportation-related fatalities that have occurred within the landscape services industry. The landscape services industry includes persons who complete such jobs as landscape and irrigation installation, lawn care, tree trimming, general landscape maintenance and snow removal.
Sometimes, one individual is killed. Other times, multiple fatalities result, such as those that occurred at ValleyCrest Companies in 2004 and 2006. In the first incident, four of the company’s landscape workers were killed on their way to a job site when a speeding vehicle crossed the center line and collided head-on with the workers’ pickup truck. In the second incident, five ValleyCrest nursery workers headed to their jobs were killed when a pickup truck suddenly veered into the wrong lane and collided with the vehicle in which the workers were traveling.
“The road is the riskiest place you can ever be, and in our industry, we have to be on the road a lot because our job sites are so remote,” says David Snodgrass, president of Dennis’ Seven Dees Landscaping in Portland, Oregon. “A lot of times, if it’s maintenance or small jobs, we’re going from job to job, so we can have a lot of road time. And it’s usually probably not your mistake at the wheel. It’s avoiding someone else’s risky behavior.”
Yet both Snodgrass and Rick Rollo, vice-president of Kujawa Enterprises, Inc. in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, concede that transportation-related injuries and fatalities occur both on and off the road – and that no one is completely immune from blame.
“This is primarily a training issue,” Rollo believes. “I don’t think we take the time or effort to be sure that employees know how to operate the vehicle. We assume that they can drive a large truck and an 18- to 22-foot trailer and understand all of the physics that go with that.”
 Using a spotter to help you back up is especially important when pulling a trailer, which can easily block your view of the road. |
Underestimating the danger of speed is also a common problem, Rollo says. “As the speed increases, stopping distance increases exponentially. Stopping distance also increases with the weight of the load.”
Both Rollo and Snodgrass say backing up also commonly results in crashes. “Probably the most common incidents we have are right here (in the equipment yard) – trucks that are loading and unloading, others that are backing up, and all in a pretty tight space,” Snodgrass says.
Reducing the risks
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) notes that the fatality rate for the landscape services industry is approximately 25 deaths per 100,000 workers – similar to that of more recognized high-risk industries such as agriculture and mining. And although landscape services workers make up less than one percent of the total work force in the United States, they experience approximately 3.5 percent of all occupational fatalities.
NIOSH’s Traumatic Injury Prevention for Landscape Workers project is aimed at reducing traumatic injuries and deaths within the landscape services industry. As part of this project, NIOSH recently completed a fact sheet, available in English or Spanish, which discusses how workers in the industry are most commonly dying on the job. The fact sheet also lists a number of free Web-based resources that can be used by employers, supervisors and employees. This fact sheet, entitled Fatal Injuries Among Landscape Services Workers (NIOSH Publication No. 2008-144), can be accessed via the NIOSH Web site. A second fact sheet, Non-fatal Traumatic Injuries Among Landscape Services Workers,was still under development at press time.
The Fatal Injuries Among Landscape Services Workers fact sheet draws upon public data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and notes the following:
- Seven hundred eighty-nine landscape services workers, including first-line supervisors, died from traumatic occupational injuries between 2003 and 2006.
- Transportation incidents were the most common events resulting in worker fatalities in the industry during that period. A total of 257 persons died in these incidents.
- The number of transportation-related deaths was generally greater during the months of May through September than in other months.
- Overall, approximately 33 percent of all landscape services worker fatalities were due to transportation incidents. This compares to 43 percent for all of U.S. industry.
Rollo says it’s critical to take action against employees who don’t take vehicle operations seriously. “I had an employee in my office after others had seen him driving too fast. I told him and he denied it. He had two accidents and had the attitude that he wasn’t wrong. I could see it wasn’t going to change, so I fired him. This definitely got everyone else’s attention,” he says.
Snodgrass believes that part of the problem is the seasonality of the landscape services business. “We get a lot of new hires, and in a pinch, they’re put behind the wheel to drive. Sometimes they don’t have enough experience to be driving the vehicle they’re operating.”
Steps you can take
The following are some steps you can take to reduce the risk of transportation-related injuries and deaths at your operation:
- Closely check the driving records of all potential drivers before allowing them to drive. “You must give your drivers list to your insurance agent to do the check as soon as they’re hired and before they’re behind the wheel,” Snodgrass says. “Typically, your insurance agent will negotiate and say ‘I don’t think this person should drive’ but leave it up to you. If your insurance agent is saying ‘Don’t let him drive’ and you do let him drive, you’re increasing your risk.”
- Don’t let your employees get behind the wheel until they’ve proven themselves. “They shouldn’t be hired as drivers – they should work their way into it, and should be approved by their supervisor. Then you have accountability,” Snodgrass says. He also suggests that drivers who have passed a road test with your company be certified to drive by your company. At Kujawa, a new driving program requires potential drivers to show they can back up truck-trailers. Once they have shown they can do that, they receive an explanation of how to inspect the vehicle, then are taken out on the road for a road test.
- Require the use of “spotters” when backing up, and ensure that all drivers know how to make use of the spotter.
- Stress to your workers that they must “buckle up” before heading out on the road and that they must use their seat belts at all times they are operating a vehicle or other equipment. “Seat belts often get pushed behind the seats. They (workers) are jumping in and out,” Rollo notes.
- Be sure all drivers know how to properly tie down loads, since a loose load on a trailer can fall off on the highway and cause a serious injury/incident to occur.
- Train all drivers to drive defensively. A number of good defensive driving programs are available. Talk with your insurer. Other good resources are the National Traffic Safety Institute, the National Highway Traffic Safety Association and the National Safety Council.
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