The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 10% of all workplace deaths are caused by employees being struck by objects or equipment.
In this case, it was a bystander who was hit, but the story still conveys the need for employees to make sure equipment and stock is always safely secured.
An 82-year-old woman died two days after a hose dangling off a passing fire truck struck her in Cambridge, MA.
The truck was on the way to a fire call when a hose slipped out of a compartment on the vehicle’s side.
The driver didn’t know the hose was unspooling.
Police say as the truck turned a corner, “the hose swung around like a slingshot and the (metal nozzle) end of the hose” hit Gertrude King behind the knees.
King had been standing on an island median waiting for the truck to pass.
The Cambridge Fire Department is investigating why the hose came loose.
