Opinion ID: 219017
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Safe Work Zone Requirement

Text: The safe work zone requirement directs the employer to establish a safe work zone within which employees may not be present when vertically connected containers are in motion. 29 C.F.R. § 1917.71(k). The safe work zone must be sufficient to protect employees in the event that a container drops. Id. § 1917.71(k)(1). If an employer establishes a safe work zone as the Standard requires, the NMSA asserts, employees will not face any danger and the Standard's other requirements are therefore not reasonably necessary or appropriate to protect worker safety. 29 U.S.C. § 652(8). According to the NMSA, OSHA has a duty to explain why it did not simply adopt the `safe work zone' requirement without some or all of the other requirements in the VTL Standard. Pet'r's Br. 30. The NMSA further argues that, because employees are not at risk when an employer complies with the safe work zone requirement, OSHA lacks jurisdiction to impose additional requirements because no risk to employees remains. The NMSA is mistaken. While the safe work zone requirement adequately protects employees located on the ground, it does not necessarily protect the crane operator who moves the containers. If a container were to separate during a VTL, the separation could jar the crane and injure the operator. See 73 Fed.Reg. at 75,256 (testimony of union representative that container can alligator during VTL and slam back down, jarring the crane cab operator); cf. Transcript of Informal Public Meeting, Piggyback Container Issue at 248 (OSHA, Jan. 27, 1998) (Joint Appendix 345) (testimony of Matthew Laport, crane operator for Sea-Land) (describing as a hell of a feeling when interbox connector initially fails to disengage during single lift so that lifted container remains attached to container below and everything just jolts when connector finally releases). The safe work zone requirement, therefore, does not make the VTL Standard's other requirements unnecessary or inappropriate and we believe OSHA has supported the requirement with substantial evidence. See 73 Fed.Reg. at 75,256, 75,272.