OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #758904
WEDDLE BROTHERS CONSTRUCTION INC.
WASHINGTON, IN·
Event description
Bulldozer operator drowns in river
Investigation abstract
At approximately 2:00 p.m. on March 14, 1989, Employee #1 was operating a Caterp illar D-5 bulldozer on an access road that started from an existing highway and led underneath a new bridge structure into a river. Employee #1 was working the dirt to prepare this access road for later use by construction personnel. Due to the high water level of the river, approximately 115 ft of the access road was underwater. Employee #1 backed the bulldozer down this road and into the water t o a section of the road that had apparently been washed away. The bulldozer slid into the river and was submerged. The rapid current swept Employee #1 from the bulldozer and he drowned.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 50 Male
- Nature of injury
- Other (21)
- Part of body
- OTHBODYSYS (31)
- Accident type
- OTHER (14)
- Source of injury
- WATER (41)
- Occupation
- Grader, dozer and scraper operators (855)
- Human factor
- OTHER (14)
- Environmental factor
- WORK-SURFACE/FACIL-LAYOUT COND (13)
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
Labels are OSHA's own, from the code dictionary published with the accident-investigation file. The raw code is shown beside each one so this page can be reconciled against OSHA's bulk data. OSHA notes that nature of injury, part of body, source of injury and accident type in this file are not coded to the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System, and that the occupation titles are not standardised — so these values are not directly comparable with the OIICS-coded severe injury reports.