Pipe Kills Driver

A 29-year-old truck driver was killed when a piece of pipe rolled off a truck bed and struck him in the head. The pipe was 50 feet (15 meters) long and weighed about two tons (tonnes). The victim had removed all but one strap securing the load, moved the truck, and was in the process of removing the remaining strap. The load shifted, rolling the pipe off the truck and onto the victim. A lift truck was not in position to halt the rolling pipe.

To prevent a similar tragedy, consider the following checklist:

• Has your company instituted adequate unloading procedures?
• Are loads properly blocked?
• If lift trucks are used as part of the unloading procedure, are they always in place to protect the worker if a load shifts?