Fundamental of Occupational Health and Science

Reflect on your current work environment. Share an example of a work-related accident (please do not include names of people or employers) that occurred and your thoughts on whether or not the accident was preventable. Be sure to add enough detail so that your classmates can form their own opinions about the preventability of the incident and have a discussion about that with you.
ALSO PLEASE REPLY TO ANOTHER STUDENTS COMMENT BELOW 

RICHAR:

A serious incident that occurred several years back with the company I work for was we had a boom truck that had a catastrophic failure of the boom resulting in a 9500 lb. pole crushing an employee to death. This was due to several factors first being the operator of the boom did not conduct a lift plan taking into consideration all factors including truck placement and angle of the boom. As the angle of the boom changes so does the lifting capacity of the truck. This was compounded by high winds and uneven terrain. Ultimately the employee was directly in the line of fire causing him to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the boom failed. The boom crumbled like a coke can and the pole dropped uncontrollably. This was a hard lesson, but it was completely preventable, had the load been calculated correctly or even if it had not if the employee not been in the line of fire when the boom did fall, we would not be talking about it today. Since then we have greatly improved our lift plans and crane operation procedures. A big industry problem is mainly due to lobbyist for the electric utilities many utilities try to hide behind the 269 exemption and toe the line on what work can be done with a “line truck”. This sometimes pushes the limits on what is legal and what is right.