Abstract: On May 12, 2005, Employee #1, of Acorn Industrial, Inc., was removing welds from a 30 in. CHR pipe in a utility tunnel, so the pipe could be repositioned and re-welded in place. The pipe was normally suspended by permanent supports spaced throughout the tunnel, as well as by temporary "trapeze" supports mounted to the ceiling and positioned to hold up the pipe where it was not adequately held by the permanent supports during installation. In the place where Employee #1 was working, there was no permanent support in place. On the previous day, a separate crew had received approval from the foreman and from Employee #1 to also remove the temporary support because this top run of pipe had been completely fit up and tack-welded in place at two joints: the west joint and the east joint. A subsequent inspection of the welds had revealed a misalignment of the pipe at the west joint. To correct this, Employee #1 and the foreman decided to remove about 18 in. of the 30 in. CHR pipe at the west joint (including the misaligned weld), refit the two pipe ends, and redo the weld at this location. The pipe was manually rolled to allow access to all portions of it, due to the close proximity to the north wall. During the rolling of the pipe, three tack welds at the west joint cracked; they were re-welded back in place, but they cracked again during subsequent rolling of the pipe while the victim continued cutting the pipe at the east joint. After the tack welds cracked the second time, the foreman and Employee #1 decided to start over at the west joint. At this point Employee #1 had completely severed the pipe at the east joint. The foreman told Employee #1 to check his rigging and grind out the remaining three tack welds at the west joint with a hand-held grinder. This would allow the crew to reposition the entire 30 in. CHR pipe and weld it back in place. The foreman left the area to continue layout for expansion joints in another vault, and Employee #1 and his helper continued to work at the west joint. He ground out the three broken tack welds while they were at the bottom of the pipe, instead of rolling the pipe to put the tack welds in a better position. At this point, the only support for the pipe was the permanent support, about 24 ft 4 in. away, and approximately 12 ft of the pipe extended over the support structure near the east joint. The pipe was about 38 ft long before the removal of 18 in. at the east joint. Employee #1 was removing the tack welds from the bottom of the pipe when it fell, crushing his right arm against the 30 in. CHS pipe below. He suffered injuries that required hospitalization. The temporary "trapeze" support would have adequately held the pipe's weight if it had been reinstalled when the workers realized they were going to remove the tack welds at the west joint and completely sever the pipe at the east joint. Employee #1 had been using a Ross "come-a-long" to help him shift/roll the pipe for the refit. The "come-a-long" was off center and therefore not in place to support the pipe; it could only provide offset force to shift or roll the pipe. -----