Opinion ID: 4027017
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Barnes Incident

Text: When he was struck by the falling bag, Barnes was walking in the forklift area, not on the pedestrian walkway. According to Sun Chemical, Barnes had no job duties on the warehouse floor where he was walking. A Sun Chemical internal investigation identified the “root causes” of the incident as: 1) use of the pushback technique, causing the pallets to interlock and become unstable, 2) the operator on the mezzanine failing to notice the pallets were interlocked, 3) Barnes walking outside the designated area for foot traffic, and 4) the warning light flashing intermittently, with one to twenty-five second pauses between flashes. Hendryx also testified that the gate being left -6- No. 15-2022 Gloria Barnes v. Sun Chemical Corporation open might have contributed to the incident, although he doubted that the gate would have stopped the bag from falling. MIOSHA cited Sun Chemical for two “serious” violations as a result of the Barnes incident: 1) inadequate stacking as a result of the pushback method, and 2) inadequate standard barrier, meaning that although there was a barrier on the mezzanine, it was open while pallets were moved onto the mezzanine, and employees stated they sometimes looked over to view the area below, exposing them to a fall hazard.