Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: STRUCK BY

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 condition(s) listed below: a) On June 21, 2005, employees of D-J's Well Service took a Cabot T-base pumping unit loose from its base and placed it onto shoring timbers, without attaching it firmly to anything else. Before doing this, they chained the bull gear to prevent the counterweights from traveling, after attaching one counterweight to a truck-mounted pole hoist. When they released the chain by hoisting the counterweights, one employee was pushing on the drive belts to prevent the counterweights from moving, which placed him in their zone of travel. When he released the belts, the swinging counterweights were suspended from only one side, which had the effect of overbalancing the unit and causing it to topple over. Employees were thus exposed to the recognized hazards of being caught underneath falling equipment and being struck by or caught between the swinging counterweights and the rest of the pumping unit. Exposure to these hazards could have been avoided by: 1. Attaching both counterweights to the hoist with a sling, which would have permitted better control of the counterweights and avoided the need to have anyone holding their drive belts to restrain them. 2. Proper maintenance of the brake system on the pumping unit, which would have helped prevent unintended movement of the counterweights. 3. Attaching the pumping unit to a steel skid base or concrete pad, which would have significantly reduced the likelihood of it tipping over. 4. Chaining the beam to a frame member instead of a moving assembly, so that the chain would have been easier to detach.