Lack of training for risky job proves costly: $1.04 million

Safety insight: Do your crew members have written procedures they can follow for all potentially hazardous tasks? If not, work with your safety manager to develop step-by-step instructions for each dangerous job.

What happened: A worker was responsible for changing a flat tire on a trailer attached to a truck. There were no written procedures for swapping out flat tires, and the staff member hadn’t been provided with training on how to safely accomplish the task.

What people did: The rubber piece of the tire had become wrapped around the axle. Instead of using a jack to elevate the trailer so the tire could be removed, the worker instructed the truck driver to move the vehicle back and forth while he tried to pull the rubber away from the axle. The worker positioned himself on the ground near the axle and the driver moved the truck forward, causing the man changing the tire to become fatally pinned between the axle and the trailer.

Legal challenge: The family of the dead worker sued his former employer.

Result: The company lost. A jury awarded $1.04 million to the family, and an appeals court upheld the jury’s ruling. The judge said the jury could’ve reasonably believed that the employee wouldn’t have been killed if he and the truck driver had been provided with written procedures for the task and had been trained on how to follow those procedures.

The skinny: Employers that expect their crew members to figure out how to handle potentially dangerous duties on their own are rarely able to convince a jury or a judge that an untrained staffer who got hurt should be held fully liable for what happened to him or her.

Cite: Hollingsworth v. Heavy Transport Inc., Court of Appeal of California, No. B316497, 7/28/25.

(From the November 10, 2025, issue of Safety Alert for Supervisors. To start your no-obligation trial subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)