Opinion ID: 386903
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: finding a single crack in a shattered window: locating the violation

Text: 14 As its second point of error, Brown & Root argues that the record reveals no specific instance in which the company knowingly violated the regulation, thereby subjecting a specific employee to a hazard. The company maintains that the violation therefore rests solely on its failure to adopt a workrule governing the reverse operation of scrapers, rather than on proof that a scraper was actually permitted to move backwards without a prior signal. They maintain that the mere failure to adopt a workrule cannot constitute a violation of the Act. 15 The regulation at issue in the present case makes it a violation for an employer to permit the type of scraper involved in this case to be operated in reverse gear without the use of reverse signal alarms or employee signals. The OSHRC found that Brown & Root's scrapers were not equipped with a reverse alarm and were operated in reverse on a regular basis without the benefit of employee signals. Moreover, the OSHRC found that after the company specifically chose not to equip the scrapers with reverse alarms, it failed to implement specific rules requiring the use of signalmen. The company's failure to take any steps to comply with the regulation, combined with repeated examples of noncompliance, clearly constitutes a knowing violation of 29 CFR 1926.602(a)(9) (ii). 16 No different result is required by the company's claim that there was no specific showing of employee access to the hazard. The OSHRC need not prove that a given employee was actually endangered by the unsafe condition, but only that it was reasonably certain that some employee was or would be exposed to that danger. Gilles v. Cotting, Inc., 1975-1976 CCH OSHD P 20,448 (1976). Babcock & Wilcox Co. v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, 622 F.2d 1160, 1165 (3rd Cir. 1980). The goal of the Act is to prevent the first accident, not to serve as a source of consolation for the first victim or his survivors. Hence, no proof of specific instances where employees were exposed to the hazardous condition is necessary to support the finding of a violation. 17 In the present case, there is substantial evidence to support the finding of employee access to the danger. The scrapers were operated throughout a congested worksite, and were often used in conjunction with other equipment. Foremen, like Earl Joyner, often directed the operations amidst the movement of these mechanical behemoths. Given the frequency of the violation, it is virtually certain that employees were exposed to the hazard. 18