Abstract: At 9:00 a.m. on August 22, 1990, Employee #1, a journeyman for Reliable Crane and Rigging, was working from a floating scaffold, torch cutting structural steel rivets from the superstructure of Yuba Placer's gold dredge #21. A coworker, who periodically relieved him, was on fire watch. The rivets were in an awkward location, in the pocket formed by the joint of a post, two beams, and a diagonal. To get a good angle, Employee #1 stood on a gusset plate about 1 ft off the scaffold and reached into the pocket. The blowback of slag and smoldering paint chips cascaded over his shoulders and back and ignited his shirt, which was impregnated with grease and oil from the previous day's work. He sustained serious burns and was hospitalized. Employee #1 had over ten years of experience with this employer and was appropriately tied-off.