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JICOSH Home > Case Studies > Case No.100
Case No.100

Run over when a dump truck stopped on sloping ground starts to move
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[Description of the Accident]

The victim had parked the dump truck on sloping ground and walked away while leaving the truck's engine running. When the victim was behind the dump truck, it started moving and ran over him.

The victim was engaged in road improvement work as an operator of heavy equipment and a earth worker. On the day of the accident, improvement work on the passageway between the construction site and a local street was planned, and the victim was planning to operate the dump truck while his supervisor was planning to operate a drag shovel.

The victim had loaded some two tons of earth on the 4-ton dump truck at one time during the first and second runs, and was unloading it in the middle of the sloping ground of the passageway by driving backwards under the guidance of his supervisor.

When the victim returned with the third load of earth, the supervisor was operating the drag shovel and leveling the second load of earth. He used his hand to signal the victim from the drag shovel to stop the dump truck.

In accordance with the signal, the victim stopped the dump truck on the sloping ground (about a 4-degree slope), got out of the dump truck while leaving the truck engine running, and started to walk behind the parked dump truck to confirm the situation of the ground leveling work by his supervisor.

About one minute later, the dump truck started to move down the sloping ground, and the victim who was behind the truck was crushed under the truck.

The dump truck then continued to move some 17 meters down the slope before coming to a stop when it crashed into the drag shovel that was being operated by the supervisor.
[Causes supposed]

1. The dump truck was left unattended with the engine running.

2. Sloping ground was selected as the place to park the dump truck.

3. The handbrake was not applied, and no other measures were taken to prevent the dump truck from moving.

4. Although the supervisor noticed that the dump truck's engine was left running, he accepted this action without raising any alarm.

5. Education for dump truck drivers was not sufficient.


[Type of business] Civil engineering
[Caused by] Truck
[Type of accident] Caught or trapped
[Number of victims] One fatality
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