OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221582638

WENGER CONSTRUCTION & EXCAVATING LLC

FREMONT, OH— 2023-07-19T00:00:00

Event: Abdomen, Arm, Back, Chain Saw, Chest, Contusion, Defect, Defective, Defective Equipment, Elbow, Excavation, Excavator, Foot, Fracture, Hip, Insufficient Supervision, Laborer, Laceration, Lack of Work Procedures, Lung, Maintenance, Material Handling, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Run Over, Safety Device, Shoulder, Site Clearing, Site Preparation, Struck By, Tree Felling
NAICS: 237990
Inspection type: Federal Agency
Activity number: #346847916
Employer profile: WENGER CONSTRUCTION & EXCAVATING LLC
Summary number: 221582638
Report ID: 0524700
Project type: D
Construction end-use: H

Event description

Employee is killed from blunt trauma when run over by excava

Investigation abstract

At 1:50 p.m. on July 19, 2023, an employee working as a construction laborer for #1 did not see the employee and struck him with the excavator. A private citizen witnessed the event from the roadway and observed the employee trapped under the treads/tracks of the excavator. The witness ran up to Coworker #1 who was still operating the excavator and shouted, "you ran over your man." Coworker #1 then moved the excavator forward and exited the excavator. The witness phoned 911 and summoned EMS. Law enforcement and EMS arrived on scene and performed life saving measures. At 2:46 p.m. EMS pronounced the employee dead on the scene. The employee had died from blunt force trauma including crushing injuries to his back, hip, and abdomen, an excavation company was conducting site preparation work. The employee and Coworker #1 (site owner) and Coworker #2 were onsite. The contractor was tasked by the owner of the property to clear a lot of trees, shrubs and debris, and construct a wooden frame pole barn on the property. Coworker #1 was operating a Link-Belt LBX Model 130LX Excavator while the employee was making an initial felling cut of a tree with a chain saw. The employee stopped to perform maintenance on the chain saw. He was kneeling down next to an aerial lift working on the chain saw while Coworker #1 was backing the excavator. Coworker

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 60 M

Event type
1

Occupation code
869

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.