Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/506694
F rom April 1 -15, equipment- world.com reported on 10 fatal accidents, ranging from a 4-ton pipe rolling from a wheel loader that crushed a worker in California to a crew member killed in a trench collapse on a New York City jobsite. Ten deaths in 15 days, and we may have missed a few. Quite frankly, we've gotten some grief for our re- porting of jobsite deaths and acci- dents. Perhaps the people complaining don't like so much mayhem with their morning coffee. Why not focus on the good and positive (and I suppose the birds chirping cheerfully overhead)? My counter: nothing wakes up a safe- ty toolbox talk like the realization "this happened to them and it could happen to us." Yes, these fatality reports do have a touch of the old journalism saw of "if it bleeds, it leads." But I think it's good they generate website traffic. The more the word gets out about how real-world deaths happen, the more awareness everyone has of the every- day hazards in this industry. In January, when a Kokosing Con- struction employee was crushed in an excavator cab in a bridge demolition that went horribly wrong, Kokosing president Brian Burgett released a statement that said in part, "We want to know exactly what happened that day. We want to be sure nothing like this happens again." The ache in his words was palpable. No contractor reading them would want to have to repeat them. We want to echo Burgett's statement: knowing what, how and most important, the why behind these accidents is part of the safety information process, one we hope contributes to a time when there are fewer accidents to report. EquipmentWorld.com | May 2015 11 on record | by Marcia Gruver Doyle MGruver@randallreilly.com Ten deaths in15 days This happened to them and it could happen to us. " "