Truck Driver Electrocuted When Raised Long-Bed Dump Trailer Reached 4,800-Volt Overhead Power Line

On October 27, 2006, a 53-year-old male truck driver was electrocuted when the raised long-bed dump trailer of the truck he was driving contacted an energized 4,800-volt overhead line. The decedent had delivered several loads of sugar beets to a local processing facility. Prior to re-entering the wet beet field for another load, he wanted to dump the tare weight (dirt, sugar beet parts) from the dump trailer bed. According to known past work practices on the farm, while inside the tractor cab, he activated the dump trailer to rise. The event was unwitnessed. A probable incident scenario was developed during the interview of the decedent's employer, who was the farm owner. The farm owner suggested that the decedent would have wanted to ensure that the tare weight was leaving the dump trailer. While the trailer was rising, he exited the truck cab and walked along the side the truck trailer body to take a look at the exiting tare. Sometime during this activity, the top of the trailer bed contacted the overhead line. It is unknown if the decedent was aware of the contact. A second truck driver whose truck was being loaded with sugar beets nearby in the same field noticed a flash of light and saw the truck on fire. The farm owner, who was also the employer of the decedent, was operating the beet harvester and loading this truck. The truck driver and his passenger, a paramedic, immediately ran to the decedent and began CPR. Emergency response arrived and transported the decedent to a local hospital where he was declared dead.

Recommendations:

* Farm employers should conduct a field survey prior to fieldwork to determine any hazards at work locations, (such as overhead power lines), determine the work tasks to be performed, and identify safe areas to perform the work away from the hazard.

* Employers should talk with the electrical power company to gather safety information to develop and implement safe work procedures if the lines cannot be de-energized and thus necessary to perform fieldwork near the energized overhead electrical lines.

* Farm owners and truck owner/operators should consider installing high voltage proximity alarms on truck trailer dump beds in case of inadvertent operation of machinery near overhead power lines and train employees in electrical principles and proximity alarm use and limitations.

* Employers, truck owner/operators, and truck leasing companies should measure the raised dump trailer height of each of their trucks and post this height prominently in the cab compartment.

* Employers should establish emergency procedures for fellow workers to follow in case of an electrocution and train the workers in these procedures.

Drink Driving Rehabilitation

Face-to-face interviews were conducted on a sample of 125 drink driving offenders at the time of their court appearance and again approximately 9 months later. The total sample consisted of 62 offenders who were undertaking the UTL drink driving program as part of their rehabilitation and 63 offenders who remained within the mainstream sentencing option and acted as a Control group. Participation in the study was voluntary and offenders were paid $25 for each interview for their assistance.

Of the 125 offenders who participated in this study, 24 (19.2%) had previously been convicted of a drink driving offence, with 4 (16.7%) of these offenders being convicted of more than one drink driving offence in the last 5 years. A significant difference was found between the UTL and Control groups for the number of prior drink driving offences (c2(1) = 5.36), with 27% of the UTL group (n = 17) and 11% of the Control group (n = 7) having prior drink driving convictions.

The interview schedule used in this study included a range of lifestyle factors that were seen as potentially contributing to recidivism:

* socio-demography
* mental health status
* social support and self-esteem support
* questions pertaining to knowledge, attitudes and drink driving behaviours
* measures of alcohol consumption and alcohol problems.

Socio-demographic characteristics of rural offenders

Offenders who participated in this study were mostly male, single and young. Few were educated beyond a Year 12 standard and many were unemployed and / or receiving a government pension. Offenders in the UTL group tended to have more prior drink driving convictions than offenders in the Control group and this difference was taken into account in all analyses.

Follow-up of offenders over the nine months showed that the UTL program did not impact on the most of the socio-demographic characteristics of the offenders. There was a significant difference between the UTL and control groups in terms of changes in relationship status, with more of the UTL group showing change.