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 struck by and crushing hazards: a)Bag house switch area: On 7/21/06, an employee was struck by and killed when a rail car he had parked a few minutes earlier rolled back. The employee could not see the rail car rolling towards him due to the insufficient lighting in the area. The two rail cars came in contact close to the point where the two tracks switch, crushing the employee. Amongst other methods, one feasible abatement method to abate this hazard is by installing artificial lights near the switch area so that railroad employees can see up ahead on the tracks. This is also a requirement of ANSI RP-7, 1991, Table B2. Another feasible method is to require, whenever possible, that the engineer and switchman ride on the same side of the train so that they can have visual communication with each other.