The employer has a written safety program and has a safety committee which meets at least monthly. The employer also has a disciplinary program beginning with verbal warnings and running through written warnings and suspensions and terminations. The employer has shut down sites for days or even weeks when there have been safety problems in order to correct them before the job continues. At the July 15 meeting, the employees were specifically reminded to comply with the requirements for using lanyards in lift baskets. In addition, the need to have gaff guards was discussed.
Gaffs are the spikes that are used by lineman to climb poles.
When they are not being used, safety rules require that they have guards on them so that they do not cause injury. When the gaff guard issue was discussed, Mr. Heathcoe indicated that he did not have regular gaff guards and he was directed by Mr. Gallagher to obtain these at the employer's expense. Mr. Heathcoe did not do this, although he said he would. Neither Mr. Gallagher or any other supervisory staff checked to make sure that Mr. Heathcoe complied with that requirement. The two were working essentially alone without any supervisory personnel.