OSHA Inspection: MIDWEST DRYWALL COMPANY, INC.

Issued

May 1, 1997

Abate by

Nov 21, 1997

Penalty

Initial $3,000 · Current $2,500 Reduced

General-duty citation text

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:
(a)On or about January 21, 1997 at approximately 11:15 A.M., an employee
who
was marking out the spacings for the (18) foot metal studs at the upper
level
while working on an Upright SL-20D self-propelled lift walked off the
unprotected end of the lift and fell approximately (12) feet on to the
concrete
floor below, since the upper guardrail had been removed from the lift and
the
mid-rail chain guard was not in place to afford proper protection for the
lift.
While ultimate responsibility for correcting the hazard rests with the
employer, given his
superior knowledge of the workplace, two feasible and acceptable methods
among others
to correct this hazard would be to first make sure the top rail and mid
rail are in place
while employees are performing work on the lifts; and second to perform
pre-inspection
of the lifts prior to their being used by employees to insure there are no
lift defects.s