Abstract: At approximately 10:30 a.m. on March 24, 2008, Employee #1 was a rigger. He was wrapping a 0.5-in. wire rope sling around joists that a crane would lift into position. The steel joists were approximately 48 ft long and weighed approximately 500 lbs. Employee #1 rigged a joist with the wire rope sling to a hook on shackles above the headache ball and then to a hook below the headache ball on the Grove crane. The crane operator had lifted the joist approximately 15 ft when the wire rope sling came off the top hook. Employee # 1 was killed when he was crushed by the falling joist. The top hook was not used in a manner to not side load the hook or to ensure the load was not carried by the latch of the hook.