Abstract: At approximately 12:30 p.m. on October 7, 2008, An employee was working as a ground man and was assisted by a coworker, also a ground man, where a steel column was being rigged on the ground and was to be hoisted and set in place on a concrete foundation. A rubber tired, Grove RT 745 Crane was being used to assist in the rigging process. A lifting mechanism that consisted of a choker, shackle, ropes and a cotter pin was being used. Based on the task at hand, the ground man would have attached the hinge pin through the shackle and then through the column splice lug hole and back through the other side of the shackle hole. A cotter pin would then be placed through the end tip of the hinge pin. A nylon rope would also be attached to the handle side of the hinge pin. Another nylon rope would be connected to the cotter pin so that when the steel column was erected, the rope would be pulled, the cotter pin would fall out and then the rope connected to the hinge pin would be pulled and that portion of the rigging apparatus would fall to the ground. The investigation revealed that during the initial set up, the cotter pin was placed down side up; so if the rope is pulled, the pin would not pop out. The coworker signaled the crane operator to begin the lift. As the column was being raised, the ground man noticed the inverted cotter pin and motioned the crane operator to stop. At that time, the ground man adjusted the cotter pin and motioned the crane operator to continue the lift. The rigging connection released from the column shortly after the column was hoisted to about a 45 degree angle. The mechanism had been placed under and not through the splice lug hole. The employee was killed when a 44.2 foot steel column, weighing about 2,300 lbs fell on him. The coworker stated that he did not notice that the rigging connection was not connected through the splice lug hole on the steel column. There was no work rule in place to address specific rigging procedures when erection operations involved rigging steel columns and beams hoisting said items. Also, there was no documentation that employees who performed rigging work were trained on implementing safe rigging connections when steel columns were being hoisted and set in place. The weather at the time of the accident was clear and sunny with no precipitation.