Abstract: Employee #1, a ladle tender, was working from a rail car platform performing routine maintenance on the slag gates located on the bottom of the ladles. The overhead crane operator was placing a 14,000-pound "J-hook" lifting device ("ladle bail and hooks assembly") onto the ladle when the lifting device fell off the crane's main hoist hook. It fell on top of the ladle and then fell onto the rail car, knocking it to the ground. The lifting device came to rest on top of the employee, crushing and killing him. The lifting device had not been properly and fully seated in the hook before it was carried over the employee's head. The tip of the main hoist hook had been cut off, creating a flat surface on the end of the hook. This made it easier to place the lifting device onto the hook and remove it from the hook.