Abstract: At approximately 2:30 p.m. on January 3, 1998, Employee #1 was in the bottom of a ship's hold attaching a sling around three bundles of scrap railroad rails, each weighing approximately 5.5 metric tons. A stack of rail bundles behind him shifted suddenly and fell against his legs, pinning him against the bundles on the forklift. Employee #1 suffered multiple fractures to his right leg and severe bruises to his left leg. The cause of the accident was poor operational methods. This was a new operation being performed that had just been started the day before the accident. Subsequent investigation revealed that precautions had not been taken to ensure that stacked bundles of railroad rails would not shift or fall while the cargo was being broken down.