Cargo from rollover requires extra caution

VENETA — As Charles Sherwin lay upside-down in a 2008 Ford Ranger pickup truck about 6:05 a.m. Monday on Highway 126, waiting for emergency personnel to extricate him from the truck, he had a warning for them: “Look for it — but don’t touch it,” said Scott Aker, vice president of Umpqua Testing Service, the Myrtle Creek company that employs Sherwin.

The 54-year-old Roseburg man was westbound on Highway 126 near Fisher Road, en route to a state Department of Transportation bridge construction site east of Mapleton, when the company vehicle he was driving drifted onto the shoulder of the road before rolling several times after Sherwin overcorrected his steering, according to police.

The impact of the crash caused the piece of encased equipment chained and locked in the back of the pickup to eject, Aker said. That would be the nuclear densometer, a common field instrument used to test soil density and moisture at major road construction sites.

Why the concern about the strange contraption that looks something like a short, futuristic vacuum cleaner?

Because the instrument contains radioactive material, albeit in “very, very minute” amounts, Aker said.

“One of the firefighters found it,” said Oregon State Police trooper Cale Day, who responded to the crash. The instrument was discovered in a ditch near the crash site.

“(Sherwin) told them to call the radiation officer for our company,” Aker said. As a precaution, the highway was closed for about 90 minutes until an Oregon State Fire Marshal hazardous materials team checked the area, and a representative from Umpqua Testing Service arrived to retrieve the instrument.

“It would only pose a danger for somebody to walk up and try and pick it up,” Aker said.

Sherwin was wearing a seat belt, sustained minor injuries in the crash and was transported to Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend before being released, Aker said. Sherwin had made several trips on Highway 126 with the instrument this summer, transporting it to the department of transportation Elkhead Road project on the highway. Crews are working there this summer to repair one bridge and replace three others.

“He did say he actually yawned, and he was close to the edge of the road,” Aker said of why Sherwin crashed Monday.

Although the nuclear densometer came out of its plastic suitcase that is about 3 feet long and 11/2 feet deep, it did not break open and expose anyone to any radiation, Aker said. It would take a severe impact to do that, if it’s even possible, he said, noting that the equipment is enclosed in steel.

Aker said the instrument didn’t seem to sustain any damage in the crash. But the company will probably send it back to the manufacturer to check for leaks as a safety precaution, he said.

Someone with the company might be transporting another nuclear densometer to the job site today, but it won’t be Sherwin, Aker said.

“He’s going to take a little bit of time off,” he said.