EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

APPEALS BOARD

Summary of Mountain Cascade, Inc. - Decision After Reconsideration

A truck mounted crane operator was killed when his crane tipped over while lifting a fork-lift out of a hole in a 9-foot diameter underground pipe. A serious violation of section 4999(a) was upheld because the weight of the fork-lift exceeded the rated capacity of the crane. Given the boom angle and lift radius, death or serious physical harm was substantially probable and Employer knew of the violation or could have known of it. Because rated capacity has a 15% safety factor (which the fork-lift may have been within), the crane had lifted the fork-lift before under similar circumstances without a tip-over, and other factors, e.g., a non-vertical lift line or improper crane set up, could have caused the accident, the Division failed to prove that an excessive weight violation caused the death.

Mountain Cascade, Inc. 99-1024
November 15, 2001