Avoiding Fatalities: Run Over by a Bull Dozer

This video is part of series of animated videos, created by ARTBA as a part of the FHWA Cooperative Agreement DTFH61-11-H-00029 and the OSHA Cooperative Agreement SH-24861-13-60-F-11. This video series is based on actual fatalities as investigated by the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) and documented in NIOSH Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) reports. The videos follow the course of the accident and subsequent fatality and provide recommendations designed to control or eliminate the identified risk.

A 46 year old worker (victim) died of injuries he sustained after being run over by a caterpillar at a construction site. On the day of the incident, workers were preparing the base for new asphalt roadways in a residential housing development. The victim’s job was to work near the caterpillar and advise the operator if the material being added was level or not in preparation for laying the curbing. The operator of the caterpillar was aware that the victim was working behind the caterpillar, but he didn’t realize how close to the caterpillar he was. The operator of the caterpillar had been driving forward when he looked back and noticed that the victim had been run over. Another coworker placed a 911 call and emergency personnel arrived shortly after being called and pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Taken from FACE summary — Minnesota Case Report 97MN047