Inspection Detail

Inspection: 315121806 - Acme Galvanizing, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Milwaukee Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 4:12 a.m. on June 7, 2011, Employee #1, a 24-year-old male with Acme Galvanizing Inc., was operating a pendant controlled, double trolley overhead gantry crane to move process bars to and from cooling racks onto the carriage. The process bars are large (1200 pound) steel racks that are used to support parts that are being immersed in the galvanizing bath. The process bars with the parts are removed from the galvanizing tanks; the bar is set on a transport carriage and moved to a cooling area where the process bar is moved from the carriage to a set of cooling stands that are also approximately ten-feet high. When the parts are cooled they are removed from the process bar and the bar is placed back on the transport carriage to be moved to the galvanizing area for the next job. During the movement of one of the process bars from the cooling rack to the carriage, Employee #1 started to move the gantry prior to raising the crane hooks fully from the hook pockets on the process bar causing the bar to be pulled from the carriage on to Employee #1, striking him on the head and pinning him under the bar. Employee #1 was killed in the event. Employee #1 had been employed since March 14, 2011 and had been in his current position approximately 2 weeks. The area from which the operator was operating the pendant control was cluttered with other material and equipment that limited his escape route and safe location from which to operate the crane.

Keywords: STRUCK BY, CRANE OPERATOR, CRANE