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

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 is free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees are exposed to: On or about July 25 and at times prior thereto, employees working at the layout position at the East Plant of the American Rail Car Industries facility in Marmaduke, Arkansas were exposed to electrical shock hazards while manufacturing tanker type rail cars for the railway transportation industry. Employees operating the Powermaster 500 welding machines were not following the requirements of ANSI Z49.1:2005 in the following instances. Instance 1: Employees at the East Plant layout position regularly received electric shocks while operating the arc welders and the Koike pipe hole cutter. Instance 2: Employees who were operating the welding machines had not been provided training in the avoidance of electric shock inherent to the arc welding process. this practice exposed the employees to the hazard of electric shock. Instance 3: The employees at the East Plant layout position did not de-energize the output of the Powermaster 500 and Deltaweld arc welding machines while changing the contact tips. This practice exposed the employees to the hazard of electric shock. One acceptable and feasible means of abatement would be for the employer to establish a policy that requires the employees to follow the safety requirements outlined in ANSI Z49.1:2005.