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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8151
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is reopening
its recently promulgated standards on longshoring and marine terminals to
consider whether to permit "piggybacking," the practice of lifting two empty
containers together.
OSHA will hold an informal public meeting on Jan. 27, 1998, to discuss
safety concerns and risks associated with piggybacking and technological and
economic feasibility issues of this practice.
When the agency was updating its longshoring and marine terminals
standard, there was not enough information in the record to determine how to
regulate the practice of lifting two empty containers vertically hooked
together by semi-automatic twist locks and corner castings. Therefore, the
agency is seeking to develop information on this practice to determine how to
address this issue.
Piggybacking is not prohibited by current standards; however, OSHA has
cautioned those who lift containers with this system to inspect containers for
visible defects, verify that both containers are empty, assure that containers
are properly marked, make certain that twist locks operate in the same manner,
check to see that the load does not exceed the capacity of the crane, make
certain that the top container is vertically lifted, maintain documents that
show the capacities of the twist locks and corner castings and direct employees
to stay clear of the lifting area.
OSHA is seeking comments about how common piggybacking is; what cost
savings are associated with it; whether there have been problems with twist
locks related to damage, weather or age; and whether there have been incidents
where piggybacked containers have fallen and injured or nearly missed workers.
Written comments and notices of intention to appear at the informal
public meeting must be postmarked by Dec. 8, 1997. Those who request more than
10 minutes for their presentations at the informal public meeting and those who
plan to submit documentary evidence must submit the full text of their
testimony and all evidence postmarked no later than Jan. 13, 1998.
Written comments should be submitted in quadruplicate or with one hard
copy and one disk in WordPerfect or ASCII to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket
S-025A, Room N2625, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.
Comments of 10 pages or less may be faxed to the Docket Office at (202)
219-5046, if followed by a hard copy.
Notice of the limited re-opening of longshoring and marine terminals
standards is scheduled to appear in the October 9, 1997, Federal Register.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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