"trucker killed by a load of aluminum that fell off a forklift....."

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has talked about the hazards associated with moveable equipment in our plants. Moveable equipment such as fork lifts, golf carts, bicycles, overhead cranes, etc. are normally operated by company personnel. These personnel should be properly trained and aware of the layout of our facilities. On a daily basis any number of outside trucks delivering or picking up finished product enter our facilities. These outside trucks pose a hazard. The APSB has been made aware of numerous incidents involving outside trucks on plant property in our industry. Here is a recent story:

A truck driver was killed by a load of aluminum that fell off a forklift at a manufacturing plant in the Midwest United States during the week of February 1, 2015.

Local police responded, and determined that the death was an accident. OSHA investigators are at the business today.

According to police and OSHA, the trucker identified as does not work for the company.  A truck was either being loaded or unloaded when the metal fell. The call to 911 came in shortly before 3 pm.

Another media article:

A man was killed at a local business one afternoon during the week of February 1, 2015 when a load of aluminum fell on him, officials said.

The man, was a truck driver delivering bundles of aluminum to a manufacturing company when a bundle fell on top of him, police said. The driver was found about 2:45 p.m. and was not responsive. CPR was performed on him at the scene and he was taken a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The truck driver was not a employee of the manufacturing plant, officials said. A spokesman for the company that owns the manufacturing plant, said the person was a third-party contractor. The spokesman said the incident is being investigated internally as well as by outside agencies. He declined to comment further.

Local police Lieutenant said two detectives went to the scene and determined that the death was an accident. He said the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. OSHA officials were at the scene later that afternoon.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays for the deceased truck driver’s family, friends, and coworkers. The amount of outside trucks entering our facilities varies from plant to plant. The APSB knows of one facility that has over 100 trucks enter their gates on a daily basis. This facility is unique in so many ways, they identified the hazard of truck drivers long ago. Identifying the hazard is the first step. The second step is to develop procedure or engineering controls to mitigate a hazard. This plant decided that they would do both. Through education of the truck driver and by physically limiting where the drivers can go this facility has had no incidents.

The APSB has seen some recent plant videos emphasizing that truckers need to stay in or at a designated area (protected from moveable equipment) while in our plants. We acknowledge that there are instances where the trucker needs to have access to the trailer (flatbed, box, etc.) during unloading or securing load. All other times the truck driver should be confined to a designated area. Either the truck cab or another location.

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