Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report: Sixteen-Year-Old Mechanic's Assistance Died After Being Run Over By the Rear Wheels of a Tub Grinder in Connecticut

摘要

On March 13, 2000, a 16-year-old male mechanic's assistant (the victim) died after he was run over by the rear wheels of a trailer-mounted tub grinder (a machine used to grind large volumes of wood for waste disposal, reduction, and recycling). The victim was a high school student and had been working for the company, a tree removal, wood waste processing and logging enterprise, on a part-time basis for 9 months. The victim worked at the company yard where wood waste was processed and vehicles maintained and repaired. On the day of the incident the tub grinder had been connected to a truck/ tractor for transport to another job site and was parked in front of the company's garage with the truck engine idling. The victim was working in the yard near the garage while a mechanic was under the tub grinder repairing a trailer wheel's air brake system. When the mechanic crawled out from under the tub grinder and went to obtain a wrench of another size, the victim crawled under the tub grinder between the first and second axle with his own wrench. The truck/tractor driver, seeing the mechanic walk away, drove the vehicle forward, toward the refueling area, dragging and then running over the victim. Emergency rescue personnel were called immediately and arrived at the site within minutes. The victim was pronounced dead at the site.