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Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14525653

GARBAGE TRUCK,HEAD,CRUSHED,TRASH COMPACTOR

Event
GARBAGE TRUCK,HEAD,CRUSHED,TRASH COMPACTOR
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14525653
Report ID
418800

Event description

CRUSHED BY GARBAGE TRUCK COMPACTOR

Investigation abstract

ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 16, 1984, A TRASH CREW, EMPLOYED BY THE WASTE RESOURCES LOADER TYPE BEING USED IN AN AREA OF MORE CONVENTIONAL REAR LOADING TYPE TRUCKS. CO. OF WEST PALM BEACH, WAS COLLECTING REFUSE ON LYNNWOOD DR. IN WEST PALM BEACH . THEY WERE USING A 1980 INTERNATIONAL GARBAGE TRUCK. THE CREW CONSISTED OF THRE E MEN; A DRIVER AND TWO DUMPERS. AT ABOUT 9:40 AM, DUMPER #1 (EMPLOYEE #1), OLD THE DRIVER TO ENGAGE THE POWER FOR THE COMPACTOR (NORMAL OPERATION). THE DRIVER THEN ACTUATED THE COMPACTOR RETRACT LEVER, BUT RELEASED IT TO RETRIEVE SOMETHING FROM THE BIN OF THE TRUCK (IT IS BELIEVED). THE RETRACT MECHANISM DID NOT STOP WHEN RELEASED. IT CONTINUED TO RETRACT, CRUSHING THE VICTIMS HEAD AGAINST THE BI N. HE WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD AT THE SCENE. NOTE: THE GARBAGE TRUCK WAS OF THE SIDE

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 26 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    2
    Source
    27
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    9
    Environmental factor
    1
    Task assigned
    1

Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.