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• Standard Number: 1926.550

December 13, 1978

Mr. Charles H. Butcher, Jr. Manager, Product Safety Koehring Company P.O. Box 312 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201

Dear Mr. Butcher:

This is in response to your recent letter addressed to Assistant Secretary Eula Bingham concerning the hoisting of workman by load lines of cranes. Your letter was forwarded to this office for response.

The Office of Compliance programming has issued a Program Directive to permit the use of crane suspended working platforms; the Office of Variance Determination has granted a similar variance. In our judgment, the use of a crane suspended working platform under controlled conditions offers the safest means of completing difficult work assignments in certain cases. We feel that in some cases, alternative construction methods are comparatively more hazardous to employees than a working platform suspended by a crane. Therefore, we recognize a crane suspended working platform as indicated in OSHA Program Directive #100-48.

Although general information on injuries was forwarded to us subsequent to the May 2, 1978, meeting, it is our understanding more definitive date was to be supplied. Therefore, any additional explicit accident/injury statistics within your industry on this subject would be appreciated.

Thank you for your continuing interest in safety and health.

Sincerely,

Irving Weisblatt, Acting Director, Federal Compliance and State Programs

Standard Interpretations - Table of Contents Standard Interpretations - Table of Contents