Downloaded from SAE International by University of British Columbia, Tuesday, September 25, 2018The appearance of the code at the bottom of the first page of this paper indicates SAE's consent that copies of the paper may be made for persona! or internel use, or for the personal or internal use of specific clients. This consent is given on the con­ dition, however, that the copier pay the stated per article copy fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., Operations Center, P.O. Box 765, Schenectady, N.Y. 12301, for copying beyond that permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying such as copying for general distribution, fpr advertising or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works, or for resale. Papers published prior to 1978 may also be copied at a per paper fee of $2.50 under the above stated conditions. SAE routinely stocks printed papers for a period of three years following date of publication. Direct your orders to SAE Order Department. To obtain quantity reprint rates, permission to reprint a technical paper or per­ mission to use copyrighted SAE publications in other works, contact the SAE Publications Division. ISSN 0148-7191 Copyright © 1980 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc. Downloaded from SAE International by University of British Columbia, Tuesday, September 25, 2018800945 Off-Highway Vehicle Accidents and Operator Training C.F. Sparrell Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. PERSONS UNFAMILIAR WITH INDUSTRIES EM­ PLOYING OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLES often assume that operators receive formal training in the safe and efficient operation of their assigned machines. It seems logi­ cal that machines weighing up to 50 tons and representing investments of up to 150f000 dollars should be assigned only to properly trained operators. However, in the course of our risk evaluations for underwriting purposes, we have found that the majority of equipment operators employed in construction, logging, and surface mining have learned their trade through informal on-the-job instruction from other operators. We believe that the number of acci­ dents can be significantly reduced if all operators, mechanics and supervisors are trained in the recognition and con­ trol of those hazards which most fre­ quently result in severe or fatal injury. Towards this end, we investigated 11 • fatal and 36 severely disabling equipment related injuries recently reported to us. The data suggest several areas where specific training is needed. ACCIDENT CAUSE In the course of investigating seri­ ous industrial injuries it soon becomes evident that a single clearly defined condition can rarely be identified as the sole cause of an accident. For ex­ ample? a loader operator was fatally crushed by caving of the high wall in a sand-pit. At the time of the accident he was lying under the machine trying to repair it. Our investigation re­ vealed that the loader operator had received no instruction on the hazards of a vertical face in sand or in the procedures to follow if his machine be­ came disabled. The operator of the pit had no clearly defined employee training or preventive maintenance programs and no established procedures for limiting the height of the high wall or for moving disabled equipment. As this incident suggests, training the individual employee in hazard recog­ nition and avoidance is essential, but it is only one facet of an effective accident prevention program. While our ABSTRACT Detailed investigations were made of 47 severe or fatal injuries invol­ ving off-highway vehicles. Lack of recognition by the operator of vehicle limitations and hazardous operating conditions was found to be a major contributing factor in each instance. Formal training of operators in hazard recognition and control is proposed as a means of reducing accident frequency and severity. 0148-7191/80/0908-0945