OSHA Inspection: BFI WASTE SYSTEMS OF NORTH AMERICA INCORPORATED

Issued

2004-07-29 00:00:00

Abate by

2004-08-03 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $4500.00 · Current $4500.00

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:  The
employer did not
furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from
recognized hazards that
were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to
employees in that employees
were exposed to the hazard of being struck by vehicles in that on or about
6/15/04:
a) At the BFI landfill site in San Antonio,TX, a fatality occurred when a
sweeper motor
vehicle was struck in the rear bumper by a dump truck. The sweeper's
operator, who was not
wearing a seat belt was ejected and was run over by the dump truck. The
employer did not
provide adequate and effective temporary traffic control protective
measures or devices to give
advance notice to on-coming motorists that sweeper operations were being
conducted ahead on
the road. The employer failed to protect the sweeper operator who is
operating a slow-moving
vehicle, in a high volume traffic area and at times, under low and
restricted visibility.  This is
due to the large amount of dust that the sweeper creates as it sweeps
dried mud from the surface
of the road. Advance warning signs, barricades, a safety vehicle with
flashing lights, or a
flagman were not posted or placed to alert on-coming motorists that a
slow-moving vehicle
(sweeper) was operating ahead on the road.
Among other methods, feasible and useful,one method to abate this hazard
is to comply with the
2003, Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) Section 6B.01
(Fundamental
Principles) which states, "traffic control devices used on street and
highway construction,
maintenance, utility, or incident management (temporary traffic control)
operations shall conform
to the applicable specifications of this manual".ations