"He falls from truck, dies at work..."

 

One common hidden hazard is present in almost every plant that receives or ships by truck. The loading and unloading of trucks results in countless number of injuries and deaths every year. Here is a recent incident highlighting this hazard.

He falls from truck, dies at work

A 49 years old (man) from (location omitted), was the victim of yet another accident at work on (one) morning, in July 2025, in (location omitted).

He falls off the truck, dies at work. It is a real tragedy that took place one morning, July 2025, in (location omitted) where  the 49 years old, originally from (location omitted) (where his parents still live) but living in (location omitted), was the victim of yet another injury. For him, after several hours of agony in resuscitation, (following morning), the last hopes were also extinguished with the doctors who, just before noon, decreed brain death.

He falls from truck, dies at work

According to the information collected, (the deceased) was in the yard of a company to make a delivery of aluminum profiles on behalf of a transport company for which he worked. After finishing the unloading of the material, while still in the body of the vehicle, for reasons yet to be clarified, he would have fallen on the asphalt making a flight of a couple of meters. In the fall, which is not excluded, it may have been caused by an illness, the man would have violently hit his head on the asphalt.

To notice the body of the man, unconscious, would have been some employees of the company who, at first, would not have noticed what was happening as the truck prevented the view. Immediately the call to the rescue with the staff of the (emergency personnel) who, intervened on the spot and assessed the seriousness of the situation, transferred the 49-year-old to the hospital (30 km away), in desperate conditions. After several hours of hospitalization in resuscitation, yesterday morning,  the last hopes with the doctors who, just before noon, decreed the brain death of (worker’s name omitted), also died.

The (local police) and the technicians of the governmental safety organization (service for prevention and safety in the workplace) also intervened at the scene of the tragedy to reconstruct the exact dynamics of the incident and verify compliance with safety standards.

We offer our sincere condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends and coworkers. It is still too early to know what occurred. Another news media article stated that the deceased fell several meters from the trailer not the cab/tractor.

Workers falling from the trailer or on top of the load occurs with shocking regularity. Many workplaces fail to realize the seriousness of this hazard until an incident occurs. Thankfully, many time it is a minor incident or near miss that shines the light on this hazard in a workplace. But, occasionally, it is a fatal incident.

Many workplaces have been proactive in this matter. Understandably, every workplace is unique specifically where trucks unload/load. With that in mind workplaces have been very clever in utilizing a myriad of engineering controls to protect workers during the loading and unloading process. Everything from moveable platforms with handrail that run alongside both sides of the truck for the workers to safely walk on. Another option is using safety harnesses attached on moving tracks that prevent the worker from injury if they fall.

We pray that the reader will take this tragedy back to their workplace and ask “can this happen here.” If the answer is “yes”. Then worker training and engineering controls need to investigate to mitigate a hazard that injures and kills too many workers.

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