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 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 hazards associated with the operation of crawler cranes in which elements of the daily inspection were noted to be in need of repair and the crane was not taken out of service prior to repairs. a. On or about January 6, 2000, the following items were identified on the daily crane inspection reports as being in need of repair: 1) Crane #87 was being operated with a defective boom control, resulting in the operator having to disengage the master clutch in order to stop the boom. 2) Crane #74 was being operated with a master clutch that did not disengage, resulting in the crane operator being exposed to gears in chain case section of crane. 3) The self propelled hydrocrane cherry picker did not have brakes and the front left outrigger sinks down under load, thereby exposing employees to a fall hazard when employees are working in an elevated man basket. 4) Crane #87 and #72 leak oil in chain case area, thereby exposing employees to a slip and fall hazard. An acceptable means of abatement is to take the equipment out of service or correct deficiencies that are identified by the crane operator on the daily crane inspection form as required by ANSI B30.5-1968. NOTE: 29 CFR 1903.19 Requires that you provide certification and documentation of abatement for this item.