On October 3, 2016, a warehouse employee was seriously injured when seven crates containing 94-pound struts fell from a stack onto him as he was inventorying them. There were no witnesses to the accident, and the injured employee has no memory of the event. Following an inspection by OSHA, the Secretary concluded the cause of the incident was the instability of the stack of crates. The Secretary issued a citation alleging a serious violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1910.176(b) for failure to ensure the stack of crates was stable, for which he proposed a penalty of $9,234. The facility timely contested the citation bringing the matter before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The Facility contends the instability of the stack did not cause the accident, but, by the injured employee climbing on the crates, causing it to fall.
For the reasons discussed below, the citation is vacated.