Extra rider on garbage truck is killed when he falls under truck.
Authors
Iowa Department of Public Health
Source
Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 01IA001, 2002 Mar; :1-5
A 19-year-old man was killed while riding on the back of a garbage truck. The driver and his helper were collecting garbage on their normal route through a residential mobile home park. The victim was a relative of the helper, and was allowed by the driver and helper to ride along. He was not employed by the waste collection company, but was simply volunteering to help his friends on their normal pick-up route. This was against company safety rules, and company management was not aware of this arrangement. While moving from one residence to the next, the helper was standing and riding at his normal working position on the right rear side of the truck. Before the incident occurred, the victim was standing on the kicker bar at the rear of the truck, out of sight from the driver. While backing up to turn around, the victim slipped off the kicker bar and hit his head as he fell, knocking himself unconscious. The helper immediately yelled for the driver to stop, but not before the man had been run over by the dual tires of the truck, which killed him instantly. Both the driver and his helper were fired from their positions. Recommendations based on our investigation are as follows: 1. Drivers of waste collection trucks should follow safety rules regarding extra riders. 2. No individual should ride on the rear of a garbage truck while it is backing up. Also, helpers must assist drivers when backing up. 3. Employers should provide adequate training and enforcement to avoid extra riders on garbage trucks. 4. Manufacturers of garbage trucks and waste collection companies should consider using technologies to improve visibility to the back of the garbage truck.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.
For more information on CDC's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
CDC.gov Privacy Settings
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.