OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221563117
FRERICHS SAWMILL
TELLICO PLAINS, TN—
Event description
Employee is fatally crushed when retaining wall collapses
Investigation abstract
At 2:30 p.m. on May 8, 2023, Employee #1, who was standing right next to a torso and head were crushed. modular retaining wall, was giving directional guidance to Coworker #1, who was operating a skidder. They were working together as a team to push the tail-end of a tractor-trailer close to the retaining wall so the trailer could be loaded more effectively and efficiently with bark. Coworker #2 was on the top part of the retaining wall loading the trailer with bark. As Coworker #2 began loading the trailer from above, the center portion of the retaining wall collapsed. A witness described the modular blocks falling "like dominos." A 3500-lb modular concrete block fell on top of Employee #1, crushing him to death. Employee #1's
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 44 M
- Event type
- 2
- Occupation code
- 496
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.