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Man Crushed Beneath Construction Equipment
The Denver Channel ^

Posted on 08/08/2005 11:11:17 AM PDT by Millee

Government safety investigators were due in Durango, Colo., Monday to look into the circumstances the led to the death of construction worker.

The 24-year-old man, who has not been identified, was crushed under a five-ton road-maintenance vehicle that that flipped on top of him.

The man was driving the pneumatic roller in a subdivision when the machine's left wheels went off the edge of a dirt road, causing it to roll over. The man who died was driving the roller, according to the sheriff's office.

The man worked for Scott & Sons Excavation, which was performing road work in the Rafter J subdivision.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was called in to investigate the workplace-related death.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: hatewhenthathappens
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Uughh.....what a horrible way to die.
1 posted on 08/08/2005 11:11:18 AM PDT by Millee
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To: Millee

Of all types of equipment to run, the roller is the easiest. I suspect drugs/alcohol/stupidity, probably all 3.


2 posted on 08/08/2005 11:15:19 AM PDT by Fierce Allegiance (This ain't your granddaddy's America)
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To: Millee

"The man was driving the pneumatic roller in a subdivision when the machine's left wheels went off the edge of a dirt road, causing it to roll over."

The center of gravity must be pretty high on that thing for this to happen at any type of reasonable speed.


3 posted on 08/08/2005 11:18:57 AM PDT by Sofa King (MY rights are not subject to YOUR approval.)
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To: Millee

I used to drive one of those things back in the 1960's. Ours was modified to be pulled behind a tractor so I was never in the middle of it.


4 posted on 08/08/2005 11:24:24 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Islam, the religion of the criminally insane.)
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To: Millee

Has El Presiente Fox been notified?


5 posted on 08/08/2005 11:25:14 AM PDT by Tacis ("Democrats - The Party of Traitors, Treachery and Treason!")
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To: Fierce Allegiance
But....but....BUT! DID HE HAVE HIS SEAT BELT ON?

(deep breath) OK.

Seriously, though, prayers up for this guy's family.

6 posted on 08/08/2005 11:28:57 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (God save us from the fury of the do-gooders!)
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To: Smokin' Joe

Yeah, it sucks when not everyone goes home alive at the end of the day.


7 posted on 08/08/2005 11:30:57 AM PDT by Fierce Allegiance (This ain't your granddaddy's America)
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To: Fierce Allegiance
Of all types of equipment to run, the roller is the easiest. I suspect drugs/alcohol/stupidity, probably all 3.

experts from the woodwork alert. running a roller is an art, I would think.

furthermore, hit a little unstable earth, as one might on a construction site, an the machine cannot be controlled. especially if the center of gravity rolls.

8 posted on 08/08/2005 11:31:15 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (see my FR page for a link to the tribute to Terri Schaivo, a short video presentation.)
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To: Smokin' Joe

many rollers don't have ROPS (roll-over protection systems), so he would have been better off without a seatbelt...in all my years with heavy junk engineers, I've never seen a roller (9 wheel, vib, etc...) turn over...it's ususally the most boring job on the site...even less fun than being pushcat...


9 posted on 08/08/2005 11:32:45 AM PDT by nicko (CW3 (ret.) CPT, you need to just unass the AO; I know what I'm doing- Major, you're on your own.)
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To: the invisib1e hand
experts from the woodwork alert.

I was a heavy equipment operator before I became a civil engineer for a heavy/highway construction company. Your point?

10 posted on 08/08/2005 11:33:04 AM PDT by Fierce Allegiance (This ain't your granddaddy's America)
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To: nicko

A bobcat is about the only piece of equipment I wear a seatbelt in.

You have to try very hard to flip a roller.


11 posted on 08/08/2005 11:35:30 AM PDT by Fierce Allegiance (This ain't your granddaddy's America)
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To: nicko
I figured as much. Only when you have a full cage can you begin to think you are better off staying inside than getting clear. Then you can worry about bouncing aroun the inside.

(I had a friend who took a D-9 backwards down a steep hillside end over end. The cage held, but he got seriously thrashed bouncing around inside.)

Shame on me for being sarcastic at what is a tragic time for his family.

12 posted on 08/08/2005 11:47:17 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (God save us from the fury of the do-gooders!)
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To: Millee

When I was an LEO I was called to a freak accident scene where a guy was operating one of those machines that takes hot asphalt in the front and lays it down as it moves along and smashes it. He drove it under a low wire and it caught him and knocked him off to the front and he fell in the vat and basically asphalted him into the road. They did not have safety kill swutches at that time.

His coworkers said you could hear him screaming as it ran over him. He has 2nd/3rd degree burns an massive internal injuries and broken bones and died before the ambulance arrived while coworkers could only watch.


13 posted on 08/08/2005 11:51:57 AM PDT by One Proud Dad
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To: One Proud Dad

Jeez that gives me the chills. I bet his co-workers still have nightmares over it.


14 posted on 08/08/2005 12:30:27 PM PDT by Millee (Earth First! We'll log the other planets later!)
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To: One Proud Dad

That's about as disturbing as it gets.


15 posted on 08/08/2005 12:32:47 PM PDT by Fierce Allegiance (This ain't your granddaddy's America)
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To: Asphalt

The hazards of asphalt.


16 posted on 08/08/2005 12:35:01 PM PDT by The Red Zone (Florida, the sun-shame state, and Illinois the chicken injun.)
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To: Millee

made me think of Rachel Corrie


17 posted on 08/08/2005 12:35:01 PM PDT by Teacher317
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To: One Proud Dad
He drove it under a low wire and it caught him and knocked him off to the front

Backed it beneath the wire?

18 posted on 08/08/2005 12:36:23 PM PDT by The Red Zone (Florida, the sun-shame state, and Illinois the chicken injun.)
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To: Millee
I got the steamroller blues ping.

Prayers for the family.

19 posted on 08/08/2005 12:36:58 PM PDT by OB1kNOb (Democrats are the French of American Politics.)
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To: All

Before jumping to conclusion, this is Durango, Colorado. Houses and subdivisions in Colorado have been built on the sides of mountains. Several years ago I took a trip on highway 160 into Durango. They were paving Wolf Creek pass. The guy on the roller was running right up to the edge with asphalt breaking off and falling down the mountain. Living in the mountains sometimes makes you too comfortable with the dangers of altitude and drop offs.


20 posted on 08/08/2005 12:43:52 PM PDT by mpreston
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