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 hazard of falling from, and being struck by, the metal plate connected wood roof trusses that were subject to potential movement due to the lack of proper temporary bracing: a. At the construction site of a single-story commercial building located at 4347 Lynx Paw Trail, Valrico, Florida. During the installation of metal plate connected wood roof trusses spanning 52-feet, four trusses collapsed seriously injuring five employees on or about April 14, 2004 due to insufficient temporary bracing. The following factors contributed, or may have contributed to the collapse: 1. Top Chord Short Piece Temporary Lateral Bracing on the north side, south side, peak and bottom chords were of 1-inch by 4 inch construction, rather than 2-inch by 4-inch construction as specified in Step 4 of BCSI-B2. 2. Top Chord Temporary Diagonal Bracing spanned 10-feet on the north side and 12-feet on the south side rather than being limited to 8-foot spans as specified in Step 5 & 8 of B-2. 3. Bottom Chord Temporary Lateral Bracing for the last 16 trusses consisted of 1-inch by 4-inch by 26-inch construction rather than 2-inch by 4-inch by 12-foot construction as specified in Step 7 of B-2 4. Bottom Chord Diagonal Bracing was non-existent for the last 16 trusses, as specified in Step 7 of B-2. 5. Trusses exceeding 30-foot spans (these were 52-feet) were hoisted using a two-point method rather than a properly configured spreader bar as specified in BCSI-B1 and HIB-91 6. Trusses were released from hoisting supports before all top chord temporary lateral braces were installed and before all bearing attachments were secured, as specified in Step 4 of BCSI- B2. Abatement Note(s): One feasible and acceptable abatement method to correct these hazards is to install the roof trusses in accordance with the Truss Plate Institute's recommendations which are contained in HIB-91, Recommendations For Handling, Installing and Bracing Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses;and, BCSI-B1 and BCSI-B2 (Building Component Safety Information). The truss manufacturer provides a copy of the "HIB-91 Summary Sheet" and BCSI-B1 with the delivery of the trusses and the engineering installation drawings for the trusses refer to the HIB-91 for proper handling, installing and bracing. The Standard Building Code refers to the HIB-91 for handling, installing and bracing of metal plate connected wood trusses.