BHP, Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Jun 26, 2020 (fatal): Employee dies after being crushed between two fuel tanks

At 11:00 a.m. on June 26, 2020, an employee was working for a manufacturer of heavy-gauge metal tanks. He was working in the firm's weld department. He and a coworker were rigging up a large fuel tank so that they could move it with an overhead crane. The crane was a 180-kilonewton- (20-ton-) capacity MetroCrane bridge crane, with serial number 1139599. It had a hoist and chain sling. It was controlled through a Magnetek model number Flex 6EX2 pendant control, with serial number 109104. This was a remotely controlled wireless pendant control. The steel tank they were moving weighed 3,345 kilograms (7,375 pounds). It was 8.5 meters long by 0.66 meters tall by 2.5 meters wide (28 feet long by 2.16 feet tall by 8.16 feet wide). The tank was on the ground. It had lifting points on all four corners. The coworker, working on a clear side of the tank, rigged the sling to the two corner pick points on his side. The employee was working between the tank to be lifted and another steel tank. The space between the two tanks varied from 300 millimeters to less than 600 millimeters (1 foot to less than 2 feet). The employee had rigged up one pick point and was trying to squeeze through the space between the two tanks to hook up the final pick point. He inadvertently leaned on the crane's controls. The crane was set into operation before the steel tank was properly rigged. The employee could not escape. The tank being rigged moved, crushing the employee's legs between it and the adjacent tank. The employee was pinned. He suffered a fractured leg, rib fractures, a contusion to his right lung and damage to his femoral artery. He died two days later in the hospital from a blood clot caused by his leg injuries. The radio-controlled wireless pendant was not placed in a safe location while the rigging was being done. The workers were exposed to a crushing hazard. The pendant control's operating manual contained guidelines for locating the pendant control in a safe place.