The Incident

An employee was moving boxes onto a pallet. The boxes weighed 110 pounds each. The boxes were long and skinny: 64 inches by 12 inches by 12 inches.

The employee, trained in proper lifting techniques, stood a box upright on its end in order to lift it. He then rotated the box on its bottom edges in order to move it closer to the pallet.

The box began to fall over as the employee moved it closer to the pallet. The employee attempted to restrain the box and prevent it from falling over. As a result of this move, he suffered a serious back injury.