Abstract: On January 30, 1992, Employee #1, a truck driver, was using a forklift to load a truck with pallets of cargo. The loading dock had a diagonal configuration with staggered spacing and a 7 ft space that was unused. The area was adjacent to the truck's path of travel. The dock plate was fastened to the truck, creating a short incline in and out of the truck. As Employee #1 backed out of the truck after loading the 19th of 20 pallets, he lost control of the forklift and the lift swung 90 degrees to the right and fell 34 in. to the asphalt. Employee #1's left foot was crushed underneath the forklift. Due to medical complications, Employee #1's leg was amputated below his knee. There were no guardrails along the unused portion of the loading dock. This was not a citeable violation due to an exception in the regulations.