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

Code of Virginia - 40.1-51.1 (a): The employer, Sunnyside Farm, did not furnish each of their employees a safe place of employment and employment which was free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees, in that employees were exposed to fractures, and/or affixation from falls that could occur while scraping manure into the open pit. At Sunnyside Farm on Sunnyside Lane in Rixeyville, Virginia, employees (dairymen) who clean the yard, were exposed to falls into a manure pit, when they would remove the 1 inch wide grate, in order to scrap manure into the pit. On feasible and acceptable abatement method, among others, to correct this hazard is to install a wider grate, under the removable 1 inch grate (that will prevent inadvertent falls), that remains in place when the dairymen raise the top grate to scrape the manure into the pit.