Abstract: Employee #1 was the longshoring superintendent in charge of unloading bundles of pipe from a ship. The bundles were secured by metal straps; however, the straps on some bundles that were behind a stanchion at the bottom of the hold had broken. The gang, which was unloading hatch #2, had placed a choker around a pipe bundle to move it to the open hatch. According to a witness, Employee #1 told the gang to remove the choker and to put the base pipe in two 4-in.-wide wire rope web slings, one on each end of a spreader bar. The employees did so and resumed lifting. Although witnesses stated that they did not see the load strike anything, pipes began to fall as the load was being lifted. A piece of pipe struck a 2-in. by 10-in. board that, in turn, struck Employee #1 in the face, killing him.