Backup Alarms: Preventing injuries caused by reversing vehicles

摘要

SH&E PROFESSIONALS and product manufacturers long ago accepted the notion that behavioral controls such as training, instructions and warnings should be used only after exhausting feasible design methods that build safety into products, tools and the work environment. Why, then, do so many trucks, buses, vans, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), forklifts and other vehicles lack backup alarms that reduce the risk of pedestrian runovers? Research suggests the runover hazard is a significant problem: 1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found approximately 181,500 police-reported backing crashes with 185 associated fatalities. The agency estimated a total number of 300,000 backing crashes if off-road incidents, such as those that occur in driveways, are also included (NHTSA ES-1). 2. In 1985, NIOSH reported that 7,492 occupational injuries were related to forklifts running over workers' feet (Stout-Wiegand 79). Recent cases provide further evidence: 3. A mother in Missouri was run over by a reversing bus (Bivens v. The Blue Bird Corp., Blue Bird Body Co. and Doyle L. Ray, Circuit Court of Barry County, MO, Div. I, Case No. CV199-700-C). 4. A two-year-old boy in Kentucky was crushed when a food delivery truck backed over him in his driveway. (David and Teresa McKenzie vs. Schwan's Sales Enterprises Inc., et al, Commonwealth of Kentucky, Magoffin Circuit Court. Civil Action. The author investi- gated and served as an expert witness in this fatal injury case.)