OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221693146

PLEASANT VALLEY GOLF COURSE

IOWA CITY, IA— 2024-08-14T00:00:00

Event: Chest, Drown, Drowning, Equipment Operator, Groundskeeper, Head, Lack of oxygen, Lawn Mower, Lost Control, Lung, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Motor Vehicle, Overturn, Pinned, Riding on Equipment, Slope, Sloping, Struck Against, Trapped, Tree, Water
NAICS: 713910
Inspection type: Federal Agency
Activity number: #347691719
Employer profile: PLEASANT VALLEY GOLF COURSE
Summary number: 221693146
Report ID: 0751910

Event description

Employee dies, drowns mowing when trapped underwater in pond

Investigation abstract

At 12:45 p.m. on August 14, 2024, an employee working as a groundskeeper for a golf course was operating a Toro Z Master commercial mower near hole number 14. The hole is located near a tree and a slope leading to a pond. Some golfers approached the hole when they noticed what they believed to be a mower turned upside down in the pond. They golfers contacted a coworker at the clubhouse who sent two other coworkers out to investigate. The coworkers found the employee trapped underwater underneath the mower. The employee had struck the tree causing him to lose control and careen into the pond. The employee died due to drowning after being trapped under water.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 38 M

Event type
14

Occupation code
486

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.