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 the employees were permitted to access, ride, and perform work from the automated 1B Rotary Coal Plow, exposing employees to being caught between a guardrail system and a fixed shelf: a.B-Reclaim Tunnel: Employees were permitted to access and stand on a platform on the automated 1B Rotary Coal Plow to unplug coal chutes as the plow traversed back and forth under the back edge of the concrete reclaim shelves that protrude from the tunnel walls. This exposed the employees to crushing and struck by hazards as evidenced by a crushing injury that occurred on September 18, 2011 when an employee was caught between the end of the shelf and a portion of the railing on the platform. Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable abatement method to correct this hazard is to prohibit any employee from riding on the 1B Rotary Coal Plow.y