Hazard summary

While a logging truck driver was removing tie-down cables from his load, a big log that had been loaded above the tops of the stakes fell and killed him. Either the log was unstable and ready to fall as soon as a tie-down was removed or it was dislodged from a stable position by the movement of a cable.

This resource does not replace the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and its regulations, and should not be used as or considered legal advice. Health and safety inspectors apply the law based on the facts in the workplace.

Locations and sectors

  • logging, forestry, pulp and paper
  • arborists
  • construction
  • land clearing operations at mine sites, quarries and exploration sites

Suggested precautions

The Regulations for Industrial Establishments (R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 851, s. 45(b)(ii)) state that "material, articles or things shall be transported, placed or stored so that [they] can be removed or withdrawn without endangering the safety of any worker."

The Regulations also state (R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 851, s. 116) that:

"A vehicle used for hauling logs shall,
(b) be so loaded that no log extends,

  1. outside the stakes, or
  2. farther than one-half its diameter above the stakes."

No log in a load should be more than one-half its diameter above the stakes at any point between the tops of the stakes.

Workers loading and unloading logs and other materials should be instructed in safe procedures appropriate to the material they handle. These procedures should be designed to ensure that whenever there is a possibility that part of a load will fall no worker will be in its path.