Although this serious injury incident occurred at a car wash, the decision of the OSHRC on guarding the chain conveyor and the workers having to work around it due to a change in work practices is an interesting take on “exposure to a hazard”. If you have ever gone to a car wash that requires you to put your vehicle into neutral gear and then the vehicle is pulled through the wash, you have probably seen these chain conveyors while waiting on your turn to enter the wash area. In this case, employees normally were protected, by distance, from the hole in the trench where the sprocket is located. But a change in work practices placed employees right at the floor hole while they were drying cars. An employee stepped into the hole and received serious foot injuries from the chain and sprocket. The company tried an “employee misconduct” defense, but the court picked them apart, from lack of enforcement of safety rules to the workers and management unable to agree on why the change was made that put the injured working over top of the chain and sprocket.