Date of incident: May 2022
Notice of incident number: 2022165830013
Employer: Automobile repair shop

Incident summary
At an automobile repair shop, a worker was driving a pickup truck onto an automotive lift. A supervisor was standing at the front of the automotive lift, in between the automotive lift tracks, giving hand signals to guide the worker onto the lift. The truck unexpectedly accelerated along the automotive lift tracks, and the front bumper and grill of the truck collided with the supervisor. The supervisor became pinned between the front bumper of the truck and a wheel alignment machine that was positioned against the back wall of the shop. The supervisor sustained fatal injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Worker pinned between vehicle and wheel alignment machine. A post-incident vehicle inspection determined that the truck’s front and rear brakes were in good operating condition and the fuel throttle system was operating normally. The truck inadvertently accelerated while moving onto the automotive lift tracks. The supervisor was struck by the front bumper and grill of the truck and was pinned between the truck and the wheel alignment machine.

Contributing factors

• Failure to identify hazards. The employer had not conducted a formal, documented hazard identification pertaining to driving or guiding vehicles onto or off the automotive lift. The employer also did not ensure that its workers identified specific hazards or assessed the risks for their assigned tasks. Had the employer collaborated with workers to identify workplace hazards, it is likely the hazard of standing in front of a vehicle when it was being driven onto the automotive lift would have been identified, and controls could have been implemented to mitigate the risk.
• Inadequate safe work procedures. The employer did not have any written safe work procedures for directing vehicles onto the automotive lift or for any other tasks. The employer advised workers to operate vehicles in a slow and careful manner, but this general policy was vague and was not sufficient to meet the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.
• Inadequate supervision. The employer did not identify that standing in front of a moving vehicle constituted an unsafe working condition and did not make the workers aware of the hazard.
• Inadequate training. The employer did not adequately train its workers. During the incident, the supervisor was directing the worker from the front, rather than the side of the vehicle, which is inconsistent with safe work practices taught at educational institutions that provide automotive technician training and the standards that regulate the operation of automotive lifts.
• Lack of health and safety program. The employer did not initiate and maintain a less formal occupational health and safety program as required. A health and safety program that complied with the Regulation could have guided management and workers to correct unsafe conditions and practices.

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