Agri Systems, Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Jun 4, 1996: Two employees injured in crane manbasket accident

At approximately 8:45 on June 4, 1996, Employees #1 and #2, along with their for eman, returned from a break to continue working near the top of a grain tank. Th e regular crane operator, who had lowered them to the ground when their break be gan, was not in the crane when they returned, but the crane's cab was open and i ts engine was running. The foreman got in the crane and raised Employees #1 and #2 in the crane's manbasket, up to working height. The foreman then put the haul line drive in neutral, applied the job haul brake, and attempted to boom into t he structure. When he removed his foot from the brake, the basket went into a fr ee fall. The foreman quickly stepped on the brake again, abruptly arresting the basket's fall. Employees #1 and #2 were thrown against the railing and floor of the manbasket. Employee #1 suffered fractured ribs, while Employee #2 had almost all of his teeth knocked out. Both workers also sustained multiple other injuri es, for which they were hospitalized. Neither employee had been secured to the m anbasket at the time of the accident. The causal factors in this incident includ e the failure of the regular operator to secure the crane, the foreman's inexper ience in lifting personnel, and the job haul line being placed in neutral.

Incident on Jun 3, 1996: Employee injures back in fall from tank support

On June 3, 1996, Employee #1, an ironworker, was on the 6 in. wide concrete edge of a 12 ft diameter tank support. He was trying to hit a spider when he slipped and fell 7 ft 3 in. He struck a projection on the way down and sustained four f ractured vertebrae.