Date of incident: April 2015
Notice of incident number: 2015166710093
Employers: House construction company; demolition company

Incident summary

Workers were demolishing a house and a garage with an excavator. The operator of the excavator was directed to remove a tree from the property. A worker walked toward the tree to assist with a chainsaw. While doing so, he walked under the boom of the excavator. At the same time, the operator of the excavator extended the boom toward the tree, and the bucket suddenly fell off and onto the worker. The worker sustained serious injuries when he was struck by the excavator bucket.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Failure to properly attach excavator bucket. The unsecured bucket fell from the boom. The bucket on the excavator had been changed a number of times on the day of the incident. A pre-use inspection was not completed, the blocking bar was not used, and the excavator was used despite being known to have a faulty alarm for the bucket attachment. The instructions in the excavator’s manual were not followed.

Contributing factors

• Failure to remedy unsafe condition. The demolition company had a duty to ensure its equipment was functioning safely.  The company was aware of the malfunctioning alarm but took no action to prevent use of the excavator.  The company failed to take appropriate corrective actions such as taking the excavator out of service and having the alarm repaired.
• Inadequate supervision of the worksite.  Basic safety requirements were disregarded at the worksite during the tree removal, including requirements for working around heavy equipment (not walking under the excavator boom) and ensuring that the excavator was operated and maintained in accordance with the safe work procedures specified in the manual.

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