Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: CRUSHING

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to the hazard of being struck/crushed by moving equipmet: a) Philadelphia Recycling & Transfer Station Inc. - on 10/16/95 at approximately 09:25 the Dresser 560B Payloader(front end loader) owned by Philadelphia Recycling & Transfer Station Inc, was being operated by a Northeastern Leasing Co. employee leased to Philadelphia Recycling & Transfer Station Inc. The payloader; which had a defective back-up alarm, and was operating in a high noise work environment struck and killed a Northeastern Leasing Co. employee leased to AAA Recycling Corp. while backing up. The employer did not implement alternative safety measures, such as the use of a truck walker(safety spotter), to assure the safety of employees while industrial truck and equipment are backing up. The industrial trucks and equipment have significant restricted view to the rear. b) Philadelphia Recycling & Transfer Station Inc., Demo Area - on 10/16/95 at approximately 16:00 hours the Caterpillar 963 track type loader #2 was observed being operated with a defective back-up alarm in a high noise environment. The loader is owned by Philadelphia Recycling & Transfer Station Inc. and an employee of Northeastern Leasing Co. leased to Philadelphia Recycling & Transfer Station Inc. was operating the loader. Employees from AAA Waste Disposal Corp., AAA Recycling Corp., and from Philadelphia Transfer & Recycling Station, all of which are leased from Northeastern Leasing Co. are exposed. The employer did not implement alternative safety measures, such as the use of a truck walker(safety spotter), to assure the safety of employees while industrial truck and equipment are backing up. The industrial trucks and equipment have significant restricted view to the rear. c) Philadelphia Recycling & Transfer Station Inc., Demo Area - On 10/19/95 the Caterpillar Track Type loader #225 with the Grapple was observed being operated with a defective back-up alarm in a high noise environment. The loader is owned by Philadelphia Recycling & Transfer Station Inc. and an employee of Northeastern Leasing Co. leased to Philadelphia Recycling & Transfer Station Inc. is operating the loader. Employees from AAA Waste Disposal Corp., AAA Recycling Corp., and from Philadelphia Transfer & Recycling Station Inc. all of which are leased from Northeastern Leasing Co. and are exposed. The employer did not implement alternative safety measures, such as the use of a truck walker(safety spotter), to assure the safety of employees while industrial truck and equipment are backing up. The industrial trucks and equipment have significant restricted view to the rear. *Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable method of abatement to correct the hazard is to establish and implement a truck walker(safety spotter) to guide industrial equipment and trucks while they are being backed up and to inform all ground personalto be alert for moving vehicles. The truck walker would function as a safety spotter in addition to the back-up alarm when equipment is operated in a noisy environment