Rigging Crew Leader Crushed by Light Tower Weight — Massachusetts

SUMMARY

On December 28, 2019, a male 34-year-old rigging crew leader was fatally injured while assisting in the construction of a stage light tower. He was helping to position a light tower ballast weight when it slid off the forks of an all-terrain telehandler and crushed him.

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
Key contributing factors identified in this investigation include:

• Working within the fall zone of hoisted materials
• Failure to conduct a job hazard analysis
• Failure to provide required training to equipment operators
• Lack of coordination of safety and health programs at a multi-employer worksite

RECOMMENDATIONS
Massachusetts FACE investigators concluded that to help prevent similar occurrences, employers should:

• Ensure that employees are not within the fall zone of material being transported.
• Ensure employees routinely perform a job hazard analysis prior to the start of a job task.
• Ensure that employees who operate equipment are properly trained.
• Ensure that multi-employer worksite employers coordinate to develop, implement, and enforce safety and health programs at a shared site.

Rigging Crew Leader Crushed by Light Tower Weight — Massachusetts [PDF – 1 MB]