research/face
FACE/WA
Fatality Assessment &
Control Evaluation


2
Lineman Killed After Being Struck by a Car in Washington State.

Investigation: # 00WA04001
Release Date: December 30, 2003
SHARP Report: # 52-10-2003

_____________________________________________________________
SUMMARY

On July 25, 2000, a 33-year-old male journeyman lineman died, and a co-worker was injured,
after they were struck by a car that drove through a utility construction work zone that was beside
the road. The utility lineman (the fatal victim) and the injured co-worker were working with a
team of county public utility workers to frame and install a new power pole near an intersection of
two county roads. The driver of the intruding vehicle drove past the work zone signage and
flagger into the work site. After traveling past the flagger station, the intruding vehicle crossed the
opposing traffic lane and shoulder of the road and headed straight into the work zone. The injured
co-worker was struck and thrown about 10 to 15 feet onto the grass in the work area. The worker
who died struck the hood and windshield and was thrown over the top of the intruding vehicle
striking his head on the asphalt pavement of the intersecting road. A witness, who was stopped at
one of the flagger stations, immediately called 911 for emergency assistance. Both victims were
treated on site and transported to a local emergency room. The fatal victim was airlifted to a
trauma center later that day and died of his injuries 10 days later.

To prevent future similar occurrences, the Washington State Fatality Assessment & Control
Evaluation (FACE) investigative team concluded that power and utility companies and similar
operations working along highway and road construction work zones, should follow these
guidelines:


Employers should use positive protective barriers to shield workers from
intruding vehicles.


Use an audible warning/alarm system to alert workers of a work zone intrusion
or other emergency.


Use portable rumble strips/speed bumps on roadways to warn motorists of
highway construction work zones.


Use law enforcement vehicles and personnel to help alert vehicle traffic to
highway work zones.


Develop and utilize both Traffic Control Plans and Internal Traffic Safety
Plans for each highway and road work zone project.


All highway and road construction projects must meet or exceed Manual on
Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) guidelines and must follow all State,
County and Municipality requirements for traffic control, set up, and
application.

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INTRODUCTION

On August 8, 2000, the Washington State FACE Program was notified by the Washington
Industrial Safety & Health Act (WISHA) Services Division of the death of a 33-year-old
journeyman lineman.

The Washington FACE Principal Investigator and the Field Investigator met with the regional
WISHA representative who was investigating the case. After reviewing the case with WISHA, the
WA FACE team traveled with the WISHA representative to the incident site. The WISHA
representative helped pinpoint the incident location, the utility construction site details and
defined the position of the people and equipment involved in the incident. The Washington
FACE Field Investigator also met with the safety representative of the public utility whose
employees were involved in this incident.

The incident site was located at the T intersection of two rural county roads (Figure 1 roads A
and B). Both roads were two-lane asphalt-surfaced arterials with moderate traffic flow. Figure 1
shows the road layout with respect to the work zone, the incident site, and the travel path of the
intruding vehicle. Flaggers were located west (flagger #1) and east (flagger #2) of the work site
along road A. Flagger #2 was positioned along road A and would help direct traffic that would be
traveling north and south on road B. Both flaggers were certified, as required by the state. All
the utility vehicles had their flashing warning beacons on. A backhoe was also being used in the
work area to help in the installation, set up, and positioning of the power pole.

The county public utility had a very active and better than average safety program in place, based
on the review by the FACE Field Investigator. The county utility had a full-time safety and health
person. (The safety person was not at the site at the time of the incident.) The company also had a
health and safety committee that met on a monthly basis. Job site crew and supervisors met prior
to the start of each workday to discuss the work to be done that day and related safety issues. The
county utility had been in existence for over 78 years and had approximately 650 employees
working for them in the county.

The fatal victim, at the time of the incident, was working as part of a six-person crew on the
utility pole installation project. He had worked for the utility company for a little over four and a
half years and was a journeyman lineman. On the afternoon of July 25, 2000, the fatal victim was
struck and killed and a second utility employee injured by an intruding motor vehicle that drove
through the work zone. The driver of the intruding vehicle was charged with driving under the
influence and vehicular homicide.

The OSHA State Plan program in Washington State.

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INVESTIGATION

On July 25, 2000, a Tuesday morning, a county public utilities work crew began work preparing
to frame and install electric power poles along a section of a rural county road, in central
Washington State. The work crew started their shift at approximately 7:00 AM that morning. The
crew consisted of two journeyman linemen (the fatal victim and the injured co-worker), one
apprentice lineman, two flaggers and one line foreman. The line foreman held a brief safety
meeting and project work plan review at the beginning of the shift.

At the end of their safety meeting/work briefing, the flaggers were sent out to the work sites to
prepare and set up the highway warning signs prior to the utility work teams arrival. The line
foreman and the remainder of the crew went to a nearby county utility facility to pick up materials
and a trailer to take to the work site. They planned to complete the first pole installation in the
morning and then the second installation (the fatal site) in the afternoon.

At the incident site, it was identified by WISHA and the Sheriffs Department that construction
work signs and other traffic control devices had been set up to meet Manual on Uniform Traffic
Control Devices (MUTCD)
1
guidelines as well as the Washington State Department of
Transportation guidelines
2
. The site layout is shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The flaggers were equipped with two-way radios but the victims did not have radios. All the
employees wore appropriate vests and hard hats for protection and visibility. The area where the
workers were struck was about 45 feet from road A. With the work vehicles positioned along the
roadway, the workers visibility of highway vehicle traffic was limited. Because the curve in
road A west of the site was gradual in nature (Photograph 1), the flagger was easily visible to the
motorist as the vehicles were at the apex of the curve and traveling toward the work zone. The
speed limit for road A was posted at 40 mph and the weather that afternoon was clear and dry
with temperatures in the mid to high 80s (
o
F).

At approximately 2:00 PM, the utility crew was in the middle of setting up to attach the frame
onto the new power pole. At that time, a mid-size passenger vehicle (1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass 4-
door sedan) was traveling east on road A.

Flagger #1 saw the vehicle approaching at approximately 30-35 mph. The flagger, using his stop
sign paddle, signaled the motorist to stop. The flagger noted that it appeared that the motorist was
not responding to his stop sign. The flagger then began waving the stop paddle very emphatically
in rapid motion to get the motorists attention, which did not work. The flagger then jabbed the
stop paddle into the traffic lane trying to get the drivers attention.

The driver still did not stop or slow down. After passing the flaggers station, the driver swerved
his vehicle into the opposing lane, left the roadway just in front of a utility truck, crossed a 2 ft
deep drainage ditch and entered the work area off of the roadway (Photographs 2 and 3). He then
struck and crushed a telephone box and part of the new telephone pole that was being prepared for
installation. The pole was suspended from one end by a backhoe and was in the process of having
its frame attached by the victims. The vehicle struck the pole at a slight angle, drove under the
elevated section of the pole, struck a portion of the frame that was being installed and continued

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without a reduction of speed (per witnesses) toward the victims. One flagger had yelled CAR!,
CAR! and the other yelled, LOOK OUT! to try to warn the linemen, but neither warning was
effective.

The fatal victim was struck by the left front of the vehicle, then hit the windshield and was thrown
over the top of the vehicle as it exited the work zone. The victim landed and struck his head on
the asphalt of the southbound lane of road B. The