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 crushing hazards associated with fork truck tipover when operating a fork truck on a ramp without using a seat belt and where the ramp was bowed and where there was a dropoff because the retaining wall did not extend to the end of the ramp: 257 Oak Street, Pembroke Massachusetts: An untrained employee was going down a ramp on a fork truck with an empty pallet with the forks raised 7 to 8 feet. The ramp was bowed and a retaining wall along one side of the ramp did not extend the length of the ramp. The operator was not wearing a seatbelt. The fork truck tipped over and the operator attempted to jump off and was crushed by the fork truck. Feasible and useful methods to abate this hazard include but are not limited to the following: a. Enforcing the use of seat belts by fork truck operators. b. Discontinuing using the ramp. c. Rebuilding the ramp to remove the bow. d. Building a longer and higher retaining wall.