Heavy machinery blind spots

The collision between machinery and operators is the foremost concern for workers in the construction industry. It’s estimated that around 30% of accidents involving earthmoving vehicles could be avoided by having better visibility. 

All vehicles have blind spots in which, despite the design with mirrors, visibility around the operator’s cab is blocked. Consequently, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has delegated to Caterpillar a study that considers the blind spots of 38 different types of machines common-used in the construction and mining industry. 

Using surveying instruments, light devices, and simulators of an operator’s range of vision, they obtained graphs that demonstrate blind spots under the following guidelines.

1.-The operator’s cab is located in the center of the circle.

2.-The radius considered by the study is 12 meters from the operator’s cabin or otherwise, it will be specified.

3.-The area shaded in gray indicates the blind spots for the operator.

4.-The areas shaded by yellow color indicate the visibility of the operator limited only to the mirrors.

It should be noted that some types of machines not considered in the study may have the same blind spots in vehicles of homologous design and similar operating weight, as long as they have the same arrangement of mirrors.

In this post, we only expose the blind spots of the following vehicles as they are the most commonly used on construction sites: Backhoe, excavator, front-wheel loader, tractor, and motor grader.

Source: CDC Center for Disease Control and Prevention.