Immigrant Roofer Electrocuted When an Aluminum Ladder Platform Hoist Contacted Overhead Power Line - Massachusetts

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Project (Massachusetts FACE) ; Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  On August 3, 2010 a 23-year-old male laborer (victim) was electrocuted and two co-workers were severely shocked when the 32-foot aluminum ladder that was part of a ladder platform hoist came in contact with energized overhead power lines. The victim and the two co-workers were in the process of raising the ladder from a horizontal position on the ground to a vertical position against a building. While raising the ladder to the vertical position, the workers lost their footing and the ladder fell towards and came in contact with energized overhead power lines. Two co-workers were shocked and thrown to the ground. The victim was electrocuted and the ladder fell to the ground landing on top of him. Once the two co-workers regained mobility, they went to assist the victim. One of the coworkers placed a call for emergency medical services (EMS) and then placed a second call to the employer. The local police arrived followed by EMS within minutes of the call. The victim was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The Massachusetts FACE Program concluded that to prevent similar occurrences in the future, employers should: 1) Eliminate the use of conductive tools and equipment, including ladders, in proximity to energized overhead power lines
  
  2) Conduct job site surveys prior to the start of construction projects to identify potential hazards, such as energized overhead power lines, and implement appropriate control measures for these hazards
  
  and 3) Develop, implement, and enforce a comprehensive safety program, which includes hazard recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions, such as working around energized overhead power lines. In addition, manufacturers of ladder platform hoists should: 4) Design the ladder section of the platform hoists to be non-conductive.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Electric Injuries Electricity Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Construction-equipment Construction-workers Electric-power-transmission-lines Electrical-conductivity Electrical-equipment Electrical-hazards Electrical-safety Electrical-shock Electrocutions Equipment-design Hazards Hoisting-equipment Injuries Injury-prevention Ladders OSHA Region 1 Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Work-environment

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Electrocution ; Foreign Born Workers ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE10MA019
• 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:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040344
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2012-105554
• 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 10MA019, 2011 Jul ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• 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
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:893b1c20c0cda10416827095fbf3940fd6b61f20583ee24a104dba27a8ce4dd7cf67c22a3a785d29aa314cdb1e7d2b765e9bf052114709b11ca66bef5c7bdc36
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/165224/cdc_165224_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 475.11 KB ]