UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

On June 27, 1989, Employee #1 and another employee were dismantling a Mighty Equipment Company "Speed Up" scaffold that had been used to build a brick chimney. The scaffold was five ladder sections high, and each section was 7 feet long, including a T-section. The brick masons, one on each winch, were taking down the newly purchased scaffold. The owner, who was trained by the distributor, had trained the two masons. The last two upper sections had been removed without movable pulley plates to the top of the third section(s) and the masons were about to lower the scaffold further. As lowering was about to commerce, Employee #1 noticed the 0.24-in. wire had jammed between the pulley sheave and its housing and that the stop arms were above a rung, meaning that this would be as far the platform could drop. When he grasped the scaffold to point out to the other mason where the trouble was, the wire "slipped" and abruptly caught the end of his right index finger between the wire and some other scaffold member. The wire was cut to release his finger. A nearby fire station responded to the call and transported Employee #1 to a hospital, where he was treated and released later that evening.