In this Preventable or Not accident scenario, a truck driver backs into a loading bay when suddenly the motorized door closes on his trailer. An agitated store manager tells the driver to pull forward, only causing further damage. Was this accident preventable?
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Sick of spinning his duals on snow and ice-covered roads in the Northeast, trucker John Doe happily accepted the task of delivering a load of colorful belly boards and swimwear to the Supreme Surfer Supermarket in Cocoa Beach, Fla.
Now, days later, he was almost to his destination, sitting proudly behind the wheel of a beautiful, powerful new conventional with bright red paint, highly-polished aluminum wheels. Life was good. Before long, he spotted the Supreme Surfer Supermarket dead ahead.
After waiting for another trucker to exit the dock by passing under a motor-driven rollup door, Doe began backing his trailer, cautiously eyeballing his mirrors when suddenly, the rollup door began to roll down … fast … and … WHUMP! … hit the top rear of his trailer!
An agitated store manager suddenly materialized and yelled to Doe to pull forward, but that maneuver ripped the dock door, earning Doe a preventable-accident warning letter which he contested.
Asked to render a final decision, the National Safety Council’s Accident Review Committee immediately ruled in Doe’s favor. There was no way that Doe could have anticipated or escaped the door’s dastardly descent, NSC said.
