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

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: On and prior to July 8, 2000, employees were exposed to serious injuries while handling steel coils with overhead cranes, in that unraveling of the steel coils occurred or were likely to occur due to insufficient rebanding of the steel coils and improper employee positioning during such material handling. Among other methods, the following are feasible and acceptable methods to minimize the probability of injury during the handling of steel coils: 1. Develop safe banding procedures which list the sequence of operations, particularly during the rebanding operations following the filling of "cut to order" tasks. 2. Train all effected employees on the requirements set forth in the procedures and related safety precautions, including the importance of properly positioning one's self in relation to the coil, particularly when initially lifting a coil off the floor which subjects the coil's bands to more force than when resting on the floor. 3. Enforce employee use of the procedures. 4. Follow ANSI B11.18-1992 recommendations for proper banding as included but not limited in the following: a. Banding material should be a minimum of 1 and 1/4 inch wide by .031 inch thick, heat treated. b. All banding seals should be double crimped. c. Corner protectors should be used on all bands placed through the eye of the coil. They should be sufficient enough to protect against rupture of the band due to the sharp edges of the material or too acute of a bend. d. A minimum of 3 bands (equally spaced) should be placed through the eye of the coil. e. Bands should be placed on the circumference to the coil as appropriate for the size, gage, and grade of metal. 5. Develop and implement safe placement procedures for banded coils in order to prevent damage and/or corrosion to the banding clips. 6. Develop and implement safe stacking procedures for banded coils in order to prevent undue stresses on the bands of the bottom coils.