Safety measures that would have stopped the death:
- Curbs on loading ramps. Not only do they protect against driving off the ramp, they’re a visual aide which operators can follow.
- Restraints available for pallet loads in several easy-to-see locations. It may seem like overkill to tie down one cement bag. But it only took one to cause this accident.
- Safety Training for all employees & managers, required & tracked.
- Supervisors monitoring operations. We do not know for sure whether a supervisor was on duty that day. But if a supervisor had seen the cement bag slide off, he/she could have sounded an alarm & maybe prevented the accident.
- Posted reminders to follow safety procedures like wearing hard hats, putting on safety belts, etc.
You can implement all of these at your workplace, too. Some you may already have.
Of these, the most important is easily Safety Training for all. No exceptions. Equip everyone with the awareness to spot any of these violations (e.g. the lack of seat belt, or the unrestrained cement bag).
If one person had spotted this and called it out, Mr. Ruan may still be alive today.