eLearning Login
While they may not be a popular subject, backhoe accidents happen more frequently than you might think. To give you an example, let’s look at three different accidents that happened within the space of a month.
In Southern Utah, a worker was killed by a backhoe on January 3. According to the news, the man was struck by a rotating back hoe and pinned to the side of a trench. Apparently, he was marking the location of a water line, while doing work on a gas line relocation project. Unfortunately, something went wrong with the safety of the operation of the back hoe, and the man was killed.
This accident may seem extreme, as it resulted in death. However, it is not the only one of it’s kind.
On December 20, a similar accident occurred in Anchorage, Alaska. In this accident though, the backhoe had collided with a Ford pick-up truck. The truck had struck the rear of the backhoe while it was driving on the highway. This makes you wonder whether it was completely the fault of the truck, or if the loader operator had neglected some safety principles? Maybe he didn’t have the right warning signs while driving on the highway, or perhaps he was driving unsafely. Whatever the case, a man was tragically killed in this accident.
Following the same circumstances, there was another two vehicle collision on December 2 in Mississippi, where a freightliner collided with the rear of the backhoe. This caused the loader to overturn on the highway, killing the operator.
These accidents are all severe and tragic, yet clearly not one of a kind. Whether or not these accidents could have been prevented is hard to say, but there are always ways to try and prevent them from happening. Make sure that you always do all you can to avoid accidents by having the proper training and following all safety procedures.
If you need training, you can find it at the links below: