California Code of Regulations
Title 8 - Industrial Relations
Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations
Chapter 4 - Division of Industrial Safety
Subchapter 7 - General Industry Safety Orders
Group 3 - General Plant Equipment and Special Operations
Article 14 - Marine Terminal Operations
Section 3461 - General

(a) All cargo handling gear and equipment provided by the employer shall be inspected by the employer or his authorized representative before each use and, when necessary, at intervals during its use to insure that it is safe for its intended use. Any such gear which is found to be visibly unsafe shall not be used until it is made safe.

(b) Drafts shall be safely slung before being hoisted. Loose dunnage or debris hanging or protruding from loads shall be removed.

(c) Nails which are protruding from shoring or fencing in the immediate work areas shall be bent over or otherwise rendered harmless. (Dunnage, lumber, or shoring material in which there are visibly protruding nails shall be removed from the immediate work area, or, if left in that area, the nails shall be bent over or otherwise rendered harmless.)

(d) Barges and railcars shall not be moved by cargo runners (running rigging) from vessel cargo booms, cranes or other equipment not suitable for the purpose.

(e) Bales of cotton, wool, cork, wood pulp, burlap bags or similar articles shall be hoisted by straps or by other means strong enough to support the weight of the bale. At least two hooks, each in a separate strap, shall be used.

(f) Unitized loads bound by bands or straps may be hoisted by the banding or strapping only if the banding or strapping is suitable for hoisting and is strong enough to support the weight of the load.

(g) No employee shall be hoisted by the load hoisting apparatus of a crane or derrick except on intermodal container spreaders equipped in accordance with Section 3466(i).

(h) When stringpiece or apron width is insufficient for safe footing, grab lines or rails shall be installed on the sides of permanent structures.

(i) In order to provide safe access for handling lines while mooring and unmooring vessels, cargo or material shall not be stowed or vehicles placed where they obstruct the work surface to be used.

(j) Hatch beams, covers and pontoons placed in terminal working areas shall be stowed in stable piles with beams secured against tipping or falling. Alternatively, beams may be laid on their sides. When beams and pontoons are stowed in tiers more than one high, dunnage or other suitable material shall be used under and between the tiers.

(k) Cargo and material shall not obstruct access to vessels, cranes, vehicles or buildings. Means of access and egress within buildings shall be similarly unobstructed.

(l) To prevent inadvertent employee entry into spaces that have been identified as having hazardous, flammable or oxygen deficient atmospheres, appropriate warning signs or equivalent means shall be posted at all means of access to those spaces.

(m) Work shall not be carried on in the immediate vicinity of uncovered garbage or in the way of overboard discharges from sanitary lines unless employees are protected from the garbage or discharge by a baffle or splash boards.

(n) Open fires and fires in drums or similar containers are prohibited.

(o) Repair and reconditioning of damaged or leaking cargo packaging (coopering) shall be performed so as not to endanger employees.