A mechanic was killed while repairing a large excavator by himself because his employer didn’t have a lone work policy, according to state investigators.
The 36-year-old mechanic was found dead from asphyxiation, having been trapped in a head down position for hours during his attempt to install a swing drive into the excavator while he was alone, a report from the Washington State Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation (FACE) Program states.
Mechanic was left alone on the worksite to finish his task
On April 7, 2023, the mechanic was tasked with installing a swing drive into an excavator that was being used on a construction site. Because of the work that was going to be done to the excavator, it was de-energized before the mechanic began working.
The mechanic had been working for the employer for about three weeks, but he had several years of experience as both a heavy equipment operator and as a mechanic.
At 9 a.m., a supervisor stopped by to check on the work and arranged to have new hydraulic hoses delivered to the mechanic. Then the supervisor left the worksite.
After the hoses were delivered, an assistant arrived to help the mechanic. They completed the installation of the swing drive just before noon. The assistant left the worksite at this point because the mechanic planned to install the new hoses by himself.
Another supervisor stopped to check on the mechanic before leaving the worksite for the day and asked if the mechanic needed anything. The mechanic said no, so the supervisor left. This left the mechanic completely alone on the worksite.
Friend finds him dead, hanging upside down in compartment
At 1:45 p.m., the assistant sent the mechanic a text message and tried to call him but got no response. The first supervisor sent him a text message at about 2:45 p.m. and didn’t get a response. The supervisor thought nothing of it, believing that the mechanic went home for the day.
Three hours later, the mechanic’s wife left a voice message with the employer’s call service asking about her husband. A worker heard the message and texted the supervisor, but that text failed to reach him.
The mechanic’s wife also called a family friend to see if he knew where the mechanic was. This friend was able to get directions to the worksite from one of the mechanic’s co-workers. The co-worker was able to get in touch with the supervisor, whose GPS showed that the mechanic’s service truck was still at the worksite. At this point, the supervisor was about 40 miles away from the worksite. He turned around and began driving back to check on the mechanic.
However, the friend arrived first and found the mechanic unresponsive and upside down in the swing drive compartment. He called 9-1-1.
First responders pronounced the mechanic dead at the scene. The cause of death was listed as suffocation from being trapped in a head-down position.
Use buddy system or monitoring tech to prevent similar incidents
FACE investigators found that:
- the mechanic had prior experience installing excavator swing drives
- ratchet straps, a come-along and other tools for the job posed trip hazards near the swing drive compartment
- the boom side operator’s cab window was shattered when the incident happened, and
- the employer had no written safety policy for lone workers.
To prevent a similar incident, FACE investigators recommended developing and enforcing policies that:
- prohibit lone work and instead require using a buddy system where workers team up and can help each other if someone is endangered
- require a formal job hazard analysis be conducted jointly by supervisors and workers to identify hazards for lone work
- provide and require the use of lone worker monitoring technology or communication procedures, if lone work is unavoidable, and
- require supervisors to routinely observe workers to ensure they’re following safety policies and procedures.
