Laborer Injured in a Fall When a Portable Platform Ladder Overturned – Massachusetts

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Project (Massachusetts FACE) ; Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  On December 12, 2015 a 68-year-old male senior laborer (victim) was seriously injured in a fall while working from a platform ladder. The victim, employed by a municipality, and a co-worker were dusting crown molding in a meeting room inside city hall. The victim had finished dusting a section of molding and the ladder needed to be moved to continue the task. The co-worker started to move the ladder while the victim remained standing on the ladder's platform. When the co-worker was engaging the ladder's wheels, the ladder shifted and started to tip. The co-worker tried to stop the ladder from tipping, but could not, and both the ladder and the victim fell. The co-worker then placed a call for emergency medical services (EMS) and a call to his supervisor. EMS and local police arrived within minutes. The victim was transported to a local hospital and was eventually released, but he was paralyzed as a result of the incident. The victim died about six months after the incident from complications of the injuries he sustained during the incident. Contributing factors identified in this investigation included: moving the ladder while a worker was standing on it
  
  not using the ladder manufacturer-provided outriggers
  
  lack of training on the ladder being used
  
  and lack of a safety and health program. The Massachusetts FACE Program concluded that to prevent similar occurrences in the future, municipalities should: 1. Ensure ladders are never moved, shifted, or adjusted while an employee is on the ladder
  
  2. Ensure that any manufacturer-provided safety features on equipment are used at all times
  
  3. Evaluate non-routine tasks before assigning them to employees to ensure they have the proper equipment and training needed to complete the tasks safely
  
  4. Develop, implement, and enforce a safety and health program that addresses hazard recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions
  
  and 5. Provide work environments for employees that, at a minimum, meet all relevant Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations and industry-accepted standards of practice per the Department of Labor Standards policy.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Body Height Hazardous Substances Mortality Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Staff Development

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• Keywords:
  Accident Analysis Accident Prevention Falls Fatalities Hazard Recognition Height Factors Injury Prevention Ladders OSHA Region 1 Protective Measures Safety Education Safety Equipment Safety Measures Safety Monitoring Training Traumatic Injuries Work Performance

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Falls ; Falls - Construction - Commercial ; Falls - Construction - Ladders
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE16MA032
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20054386
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2019-100306
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 16MA032, 2017 Dec ; :1-10
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts State Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2026/06/30
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:49e389d266bde2766831067cd163add8006317bca39a607218464bddb36c29307f64d494c817cb1cd4621033873716176aec56fc61829b3d7940eaffa914d9ca
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164955/cdc_164955_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 665.54 KB ]