Abstract: At approximately 9:20 a.m. on January 25, 1994, Employee #1, in an excavation 10 ft wide with depths up to 12 ft, was guiding the top section of a concrete manhole pipe onto a lower manhole pipe. The pipe was being lifted by an alloy steel chain sling attached to the bucket of a backhoe, which was operated by the vice president of the employer's company. Employee #1 had earlier wrapped the chain slings through the eyelets of the manhole, thus shortening the chains, and then fastened the hook back onto the chain above the eyelets. While guiding the pipe onto the lower pipe at the north end of the excavation (with a vertical side wall 8 ft deep), the chain unraveled from the north eyelet, causing the pipe to shift toward Employee #1 and strike him. His head was crushed against the side wall of the excavation and he was killed.