An employer’s failure to use job hazard analyses (JHAs) and coordinate safety programs on a multi-employer worksite led to the death of a worker who was struck by a light tower’s ballast weight.
The worker, a rigging crew leader, was helping to position the stage light tower when the tower’s ballast weight tipped off of the forks of a telehandler and crushed his torso, killing him.
Investigators with the Massachusetts State Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation (FACE) Program determined in December 2023 that the employer’s failure to properly coordinate with another employer onsite and ensure the use of a JHA contributed to the incident.
Worker was well-trained, company had good safety program
In December 2019, the rigging crew leader was working full time as a crew chief with a commercial staging and rigging company. He had been with the company since 2012 and also had a history working in theater set construction.
The rigging crew leader had completed the OSHA 30-hour training and had training on fall prevention and the use of aerial lifts. He also had certifications in rope access, CPR and first aid along with previous experience and licenses for operating forklifts.
His employer had been in operation for more than 30 years and specialized in setting up staging and theater equipment for entertainment events. The company “had a comprehensive safety and health program,” according to FACE Program investigators.
Equipment operator from other company wasn’t properly trained
On Dec. 28, 2019, the employer had a crew helping to set up a temporary outdoor entertainment venue at a public park. It had been contracted by an event planning company to perform the job. Another production company was subcontracted to help with the event, providing construction labor and stagehands from a local theater and stage crew union.
The rigging crew leader was on site to help move and install seven light towers around the stage. One of these towers and its components, including the ballast, had to be moved about 4 feet from the position it had been initially installed in. Compared to the other six ballasts this one had a larger and heavier weight, a 36-inch cube shape weighing 3,200 pounds. It also had four feet and an open bottom for lifting purposes rather than the cutouts that the other ballasts had.
The equipment operator assigned to use the telehandler that would lift the ballast and tower had never worked with that kind of ballast design before. This equipment operator was an employee of the production company that was subcontracted to help construct the stage. The production company had only a brief written safety and health program. While the equipment operator was trained to operate forklifts, he wasn’t trained to operate a variable reach telehandler.
Ballast weight falls off forks, crushes worker
When the ballast and light tower were ready to be moved, the equipment operator lifted the ballast about 2 feet off of the ground. The rigging crew leader crouched down and was looking between the ballast and the stage deck when the ballast tipped over off of the telehandler’s forks. The ballast weight struck the rigging crew leader on the head and then fell onto his torso, crushing him.
Multiple workers responded and managed to roll the ballast weight off of the rigging crew leader. Someone called 9-1-1 and emergency responders arrived within minutes. However, the rigging crew leader was pronounced dead at the scene from blunt force injuries to the torso.
Make sure to use JHAs, coordinate safety with other employers
Massachusetts FACE Program investigators determined that two of the key contributing factors in this incident were:
- both companies’ failure to conduct a JHA, and
- a lack of coordination of safety programs on a multi-employer worksite.
To prevent a similar incident from occurring, the FACE Program report suggested that employers:
- ensure that employees routinely perform a JHA prior to the start of a job task, which would identify potential hazards before work begins, and
- coordinate with other employers to develop and enforce safety and health programs at a shared worksite because when employees from multiple companies are working on the same site, they’re being exposed to all of the hazards on that site.
