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

North Carolina General Statute 95-129(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of North Carolina: The employer did not furnish to each of his employees conditions of 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 flying object/debris hazards: a)jobsite, concrete pads #1 through #6, employees installing couplings used to secure sections of pipe during pneumatic leak tests were not installed in accordance with the coupling manufacturer's stated range of torque, exposing employees to struck by flying debris hazards. On or about 07/26/06, employee was struck by the test tree as it blew apart from the coupling. Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable abatement method to correct this hazard was to follow the specific 6 step installation and assembly instructions of the coupling manufacturer which designates the minimum and maximum torque to apply to bolts during installation. Another method would be for the employer to return to welding the test tree to the pipe end prior to performing the leak test. Ref: ANVIL International, Inc., GRUVLOK Data Sheet 41.