Abstract: On January 20, 2003, Employee #1 and a coworker were pulling a barge up the river while standing on land. The crew tied a rope onto the barge and pivoted the rope off a steel post driven into the ground, bringing the rope to shore. The rope was tied to, and pulled by, a front end loader. Employee #1 was in the excavator approximately 15 feet away, while the barge was being pulled up the river. He subsequently got out of his excavator placing himself between the steel post that had the rope around it and the excavator. The rope slipped up over the steel post and struck Employee #1 throwing him into the tracks of the excavator. He died at the scene.