Abstract: Employee #1, age 18, was assisting a crane operator who was using a travel lift crane to retrieve two 66 ft 8 in. long steel beams from the bottom of a stack of eleven such beams in a storage area. Each beam weighed approximately 3,533 lb. Employee #1 was responsible for sling hook-up and disconnect operations. The crane operator positioned the crane over one end of the stack of eleven beams and lowered the lifting hooks and sling; Employee #1 attached the sling to the sixth beam from the top. The operator lifted the ends of the six beams approximately 2 ft and Employee #1 put two blocks between the stacks, one about 16 in. from the raised end and another approximately 25 ft toward the middle. Once the blocks were set, the operator lowered that end of the beams down onto the two blocks. He then moved the crane toward the center section of the beams and began to lower the lifting hooks and sling for them to be attached. As Employee #1 was getting ready to grab the sling chains, the block approximately 25 ft down the stack collapsed under the weight and the stack of beams fell to the ground. Employee #1's left leg was crushed by three of the beams as they fell. He was transported to the hospital, where his leg was surgically amputated.