Laborer Fatally Injured After Falling from a Home Under Construction - Massachusetts

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Project (Massachusetts FACE) ; Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  On January 14, 2016 a 22-year-old male laborer/carpenter (victim) employed by a residential contractor was fatally injured after falling from a single family house under construction. While on the top plate of a studded exterior second story wall, the victim lost his balance and fell approximately 24 feet to the frozen ground below. The fall was not witnessed by any of the co-workers onsite, but the site foreman heard a noise and while trying to determine what the noise was he found the victim on the ground. The site foreman placed a call for emergency medical services (EMS). EMS and local police and state police arrived within minutes. The victim was med-flighted to a regional trauma center where he was in the intensive care unit and was pronounced dead the next day. Contributing factors identified in this investigation included: employees were not protected from fall hazards and employees were not provided training. The Massachusetts FACE Program concluded that to prevent similar occurrences in the future, employers should: 1. Provide fall protection for all employees exposed to fall hazards of six feet or more ; 2. Provide all employees with training on fall protection and other equipment such as ladders and scaffolding that will be used to complete tasks ; and 3.Develop, implement, and enforce a safety and health program that addresses hazard recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions.
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidental Falls
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Construction Industry
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
  • Staff Development
• Keywords:
  • OSHA Region 1
  • Accident analysis
  • Accident potential
  • Accident prevention
  • Accidents
  • Injuries
  • Traumatic injuries
  • Injury prevention
  • Safety
  • Safety measures
  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Falls ; Falls - Construction - Residential ; Foreign Born Workers ; Falls - Construction - Roofs
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE16MA001
• 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:
  1-8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20050329
• 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 16MA001, 2017 Apr ; :1-8
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts State Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2026/06/30
• Resource Number:
  FACE-16MA001
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164993/cdc_164993_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 425.25 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cea97d1003eea5983c7aa0cfd31e16d9e7d658291bda6cae4493c4b5014afdd014914634a3cb88b458487806475d3aa923d239a8bcdfcac56952c4230cc9ac13