An employee was trapped inside a pickup truck that caught fire on the 30 December 2017 is the 13th fatality reported by the Mining Safety and Health Administration. The victim approached the quarry loadout area to get the Front End Loader (FEL) operator for lunch. The FEL backed into the pickup, pushing it sideways and crushing the driver's side of the pickup cab. The efforts of the FEL operator and a nearby contractor to put the fire out using extinguishers were not successful.
Best Practices:
- When approaching large mobile equipment, do not proceed until you communicate and verify with the equipment operator your planned movement and location. Provide radio communication systems between vehicles and large mobile equipment.
- Ensure all persons are trained to recognize workplace hazards - specifically, the limited visibility and blind areas inherent to operation of large equipment and the hazard of mobile equipment traveling near them.
- Ensure, by signal or other means, that all persons are clear before moving equipment.
- Minimize situations where smaller vehicles need to approach large front end loaders.
- Do not drive or park smaller vehicles in mobile equipment's potential path of movement.
- Equip smaller vehicles with flags or strobe lights positioned high enough to be seen from the cabs of haulage trucks.
- Install and maintain proximity detection or collision avoidance/warning systems and cameras.
