OSHA Inspection: WILLIAMSON TRUCKING CO.

Issued

2001-07-23 00:00:00

Abate by

2001-08-02 00:00:00

Penalty

Initial $4900.00 · Current $1800.00 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 the hazard of being crushed by an overloaded vehicle
overturning or the lifting
mechanism failing during the unloading process due to the excessive weight
and/or methods used
to unload:
On or before 2/1/01, a Fruehauf tractor hauling an East Mfg. frameless
dump trailer loaded with
flyash operated by a driver for Williamson Trucking Co. was engaged in an
unloading process
at a dump site operated by Buckeye Industrial Mining Co. at West Point,
OH.  The gross
vehicular weight of the tractor, trailer and load was weighed as 103,780
lbs., which was in
excess of the trailer manufacturer's specification of a maximum GBV of
80,000 lbs. (also
specified by the US Department of Transportation and the Ohio Department
of
Transportation)
and a maximum trailer hauling load of 54,000 lbs.  (The hauled weight was
73,020 lbs.).
Also, during the actual unloading process, when the trailer contents did
not properly slide out
of the trailer, the driver attempted to loosen it via a technique called
"humping", i.e., the
process of rapidly and repeatedly lowering and raising the trailer bed so
as to loosen the material
by the jerking motion.  During this process, the telescopic, hydraulically
operated scope, used
to lift the trailer, broke, causing the trailer to fall and the portion of
the scope still attached to
the tractor to lurch forward, smashing the tractor cab.
Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable abatement method to
correct this hazard is
to instruct drivers to accept loads for delivery of under the permissible
limits, i.e., 80,000 lbs.
GBV or 54,000 lbs. actual load, which ever is smaller by having loads
weighed at the pickup
site; and, drivers would be instructed to refrain from employing the
"humping"
method
according to warnings on the East Mfg. trailer.  Since the dump site has a
backhoe on site to
"dig out" such loads, drivers shall be instructed to use this service
mandatorily.  This policy
shall be coordinated with the dump site operator so that potential backups
in the dumping process
will be understood and additional backhoes provided if and when necessary.