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

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that were causing, or likely to cause, death or serious physical harm to employees. On November 20, 2000, near the Texas State Technical College campus in Waco,TX, involving the construction of a 1.5 million gallon composite elevated storage tank: The employer did not protect employees from the recognized hazard of entanglement leading to a fall of 80 feet when lowering thrust ring forms from on top of a concrete pedestal. The use of a 1-inch diameter polypropylene rope wrapped around a 10-inch diameter pipe was used to manually lower a concrete form measuring 37 inches tall, having a chord length of 16'0-3/8" (arc length of 16'-5- 1/4"), and weighing approximately 330 pounds. This manual operation introduced an entanglement hazard to the operator of the load line and exposed the individual to a fall. Among other methods, some feasible and acceptable methods to correct this hazard are: 1.The utilization a crane to lower the forms. 2.The utilization of an electric and/or hydraulic hoist or a combination thereof to lower the forms. 3.Change the construction process of the dome to permit the interior crane and/or rigging devices to remain in place so it can be used to lower the forms to the ground after the concrete has cured.