Text For Citation: 02 Item/Group: 001A Hazard: FALLING

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 slips and falls up to 16' from beltloaders and K-loaders, that were used for access and egress from planes without guardrails in position and/or fall protection in use, in that: (a)Employees standing on the fold-down front platform flaps located on the bridge of K- Loaders facing the plane were exposed to falls in excess of 10' to ground level when the wings collapses, and the K-Loaders were positioned 3" to 12" away from the planes. (b)Employees standing on the end of the belt loaders while the belt loaders were being raised and lowered to open and/or close belly doors were not protected from slipping and falling through the openings between the belt loaders and the planes. (c)On or about April 27, 2000, employees unloading cargo from Aircraft N3203Y onto K- Loader 870-0021, were exposed to 15' fall due to the 12" step across gap. (d)On February 23, 2000, employees located on east-54 were crawling up and down belt loader 862-0116 elevated to 72" above ground to the belly of the DC-8 without standard guardrail protection on all open sides of the belt loader. (e)On February 23, 2000, employees located on east-54 were crawling up and down belt loader 862-7011 elevated 67" above ground to the belly of the DC-8 without standard guardrail protection on all open sides of the belt loader. (f)On February 23, 2000, employees located on east-54 were crawling up and down belt loader 862-6010 elevated 5' above ground to the belly of the DC-8 without standard guardrail protection on all open sides of the belt loader. (g)On February 23, 2000, employees located on east-54, were riding the elevator platform down, on K-loader 870-7002, at heights in excess of 4' above ground level without standard guardrail protection on all open sides of the elevator's platform. (h )On February 23, 2000, employees riding up the elevator platform, opened on all sides on K-loader, 870-8003, were being elevated to 13' above ground without standard guardrail protection on all open sides of the elevator's platform. (i)On February 23, 2000, employees located on east-28, were crawling up belt loader 862- 0117 elevated to 59" from ground level to without standard guardrail protection on all open sides of the belt loader. (j)On April 27, 2000, an employee located on north-2, was walking on belt loader elevated to 80" from ground level without standard guardrail protection on all open sides of the belt loader. (k)On April 27, 2000, the standard guardrail on the left side of K-loader unloading the DC- 8, #N870TV, located on west-41, did not extend to protect employees from a 15' fall hazard due to a 25" opening between the rail and the left side of the plane. (l)On April 27, 2000, employees located on west-58, removing freight from K-Loader #870-0021, 15' from ground level were not protected by guardrails that extended to the end of the K-loader. (m)On April 27, 2000, employees located on west-58 walking down belt loader 862-6015, elevated 4' from ground level without standard guardrail protection on all open sides of the belt loader. (n)On April 27, 2000, employees were exposed to a 15' fall hazard, while loading freight from K-Loader 870-7004 to Aircraft C-G1CD, without having a standard guardrail in place. (o)On April 27, 2000, employees were exposed to a 5 foot 2 inch fall, while loading cargo from Belt Loader 862-7006 to Aircraft N801GP, without having a standard guardrail in place. (p)On April 27, 2000, employees were exposed to a 6 foot 10 inch fall, while loading cargo from Belt Loader 862-7008 to Aircraft N809IU, without having a standard guardrail in place. (q)On April 28, 2000, an employee was exposed to a 7 foot 7 inch fall, while loading cargo from a belt loader to Aircraft N605-124, without having a standard guardrail in place. (r)On May 4, 2000, employees were exposed to a 4 foot 11 inch fall, while entering and exiting the cargo hatch on Aircraft N7642U, without having a standard guardrail in place. (s)At the East End Conveyor where Huts were manually unloaded onto a conveyor, employees were exposed to the hazard of stepping into 4-8" floor openings of the European style dolly as the Hut could not be positioned against the dolly edge nearest the dock but only 13" away from it. Among feasible and acceptable abatement methods, one method is to follow the Tug Manufacturing Corporation operator's manual recommendations for belt loader equipment including but not limited to; (1) do not use the belt loaders as a man lifter for other personnel; (2) do not walk on any part of the conveyor other than the belt as the frame may be extremely slippery; (3) do not ride on the belt, conveyor or fenders; (4) do not ride the belt if it is moving; (5) use the right side hand rail when walking on the conveyor belt. Also among feasible and acceptable abatement methods, one method is to follow the recommendation of the K-Loaders Manufacturers including FMC Airline Equipment such as but not limited to; (1) do not allow employees to use for access and egress, to the topside of the planes the elevator platform of the K-loaders, (2) ensure that when the manual/hydraulic fold- down front platform flaps are in the up position that they are locked in place to prevent collapse of the fold-down flaps. Ensure that a policy of maintaining a distance of 2" to 6" from the planes is complied with. Among feasible and acceptable abatement methods for item (s), one method is to add additional locks to the dollies so that the employees are not exposed to falling through openings in the dollies.