Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: UNAPEQUIP

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 collapse hazards: (a) Jobsite: 8530 Perry Highway, Pittsburgh, PA 15102: On or about March 16, 2012, employees were setting approximately 58 to 62 foot wooden parallel chord trusses at a building complex. The top chord of the roof trusses was braced at approximately 13 feet 5 inches from the front of the building and at 13 feet 8 inches from the rear instead of being braced at the beginning/ending and repeating every 15 feet on center, spacing lumber also used as bracing under the top chord was butted together instead of overlapping two trusses, and a spreader bar measuring 24 feet 6 inches in length was used instead of a spreader bar measuring 40 or more feet in length as required by the Wood Council of America and Truss Plate Institute Guidelines outlined in Building Component Safety Information, BCSI-B1 and BSCI-B7: Guide for Handling, Installing, Restraining, and Bracing Trusses, dated 2006 and updated in June 2011. The parallel chord trusses were not uniformly braced over their entire installed length. These conditions caused the parallel chord trusses to collapse. Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable means of abatement is to follow the recommendation of the component manufacturer, along with the Wood Truss Council of America and Truss Plate Institute guidelines outlined in the Building Component Safety Information, BSCI-B1: Guide for Handling, Installing, Restraining, and Bracing of Trusses and the BCSI-B7: Temporary and Permanent Restraint/Bracing for Parallel Chord Trusses, dated 2006 and updated in June 2011.