Abstract: Employee #1 was sweeping in an area in which bales of plastic bottles were placed for recycling. Approximately one week before, two stacks, measuring 12 feet high and containing four bales each, and one stack with three bales in front, had been placed for storage. The bales weighed between 800 and 1,000 lb each. Approximately 1/2 hour prior to the accident, a forklift had placed a fourth bale on the front stack of three. Employee #1 was sweeping in front of this stack when three of the four bales fell. One bale struck him in the head and torso. Employee #1 was killed. The bottom of a stack becomes soft after sitting for a week with weight on it. The bottom bale of the three bale stack sagged when the weight of the fourth bale was set on it.