Abstract: At 7:40 a.m. on November 2, 2007, Employee #1, a journeyman iron worker, was working at the site of a new high rise building under construction in Los Angeles, CA. Employee #1 and coworkers were helping ready a tower crane to lift about six sheets of plywood. The plywood was resting on two 4-by-4s, and two 16 ft slings were run under the stack and attached to the crane hook in a basket sling configuration. Employee #1 rigged the lift and was operating the radio that was used to communicate with the crane operator, who could not see the load. When the load was ready, he gave the command "up" which signaled the crane operator to begin lifting slowly. Employee #1 turned his back to the load, walked a few steps away, and gave the command "up up" which signaled the crane operator to increase the speed of upward travel. He then handed the radio to a coworker and said, "It's all yours." At that moment, the load fell, striking Employee #1 on the back, head, and shoulders. He sustained injuries, including fractured vertebrae, that required hospitalization. The load fell because it slipped out of the basket sling. A better sling configuration would have been a choker hitch.