The Lombardi Law Firm Blog

Freak accident on Indianapolis road construction site.

A road construction worker working alone and removing pieces of sewer pipe died from a gash across his throat. He was able to climb out of the trench but took only a few steps before collapsing and died at the scene. The employee of Simmons Co., of Pittsboro was using a power saw equipped with guard must have had the saw kick back with such force that it jumped across his throat causing a gash. Reported by Bruce Smith of the Indianapolis Star. Fellow workers who rendered aid were unable to stop the bleeding in time. The hand saw was gas-powered. The Indianapolis Occupational and Safety Administration along with Simmons, Co. are investigating the incident. There was no report as to the make and model of saw involved. MSNBC did not report on the saw type, age or model number.

KICK-BACK: A strong thrust of the saw back toward the faller generally resulting from improper use of the nose of the bar or the pinching of the bar in a cut. Kickback causes loss of control of the saw and this in turn results in numerous saw cuts each year. Kick-back also refers to a tree jumping back over the stump toward the faller. This kind of kick-back generally results from a tree being felled into standing timber and/or lack of stump-shot.

OSHA provides a list of the 100 most cited OSHA Construction Standards and provides the top 25 physical hazards.

The 100 Most Frequently Cited OSHA Construction Standards in1991: A Guide for the Abatement of the Top 25 Associated Physical Hazards

”Fatalities and injuries due to accidents continue to besiege the construction industry. In an effort to help employers, employees and OSHA compliance personnel (CSHO's) identify hazards that are causing accidents; OSHA has compiled listings in this report of the 100 Most Cited Standards in the construction industry. The purposes of the report are to: 1) identify the hazards causing accidents that are associated with the most frequently cited OSHA construction standards; 2) educate the employer, employee and CSHO on hazards found on construction sites and to offer suggestions for eliminating, controlling or mitigating the hazards; 3) notify employers of the types of violations on construction sites that OSHA personnel find most frequently; and 4) provide information in a format that would be readily useable for safety talks, tool box meetings, etc.

The first part of this report contains two lists:

The first list includes the 100 most frequently cited construction standards. The second list of 100 covers only those citations for standards related to physical conditions on a job site. This list does not include citations for so called "paperwork" requirements such as the hazard communications standard (Code of Federal Regulations - Title 29 [CFR 29], 1926.59)and safety training and education (1926.21) but does include citations for standards such as hard hats (1926.100), guards for open sided floors (1926.500), etc. The report refers to the first list as the 100 Most Cited List and the second list as the 100 Most Cited Physical List.

The second part of this report (Chapters 4 and 5) focuses on the top 25 construction hazards from the 100 Most Cited Physical List and serves as a guide to the elimination, control and or mitigation of the physical hazards addressed by the standards cited.”