Immigrant Roofer Struck by a Bag of Gravel that Fell from a Roof - Massachusetts

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Project (Massachusetts FACE) ; Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  On November 13, 2010 a 39-year-old male roofer (victim) was part of a crew repairing the roof of a building. The victim was standing on the ground when he was struck by a bag loaded with gravel from the building's roof. The bag, which weighed approximately 40 pounds, was being lowered from the roof to the ground using a portable manual rope pulley system. The bag free fell three and one half stories, striking the victim in the head. Two co-workers were positioned on the building's roof at the time of the incident. One of the co-workers immediately called the company owner after the incident. The company owner then placed a call for emergency medical services (EMS). A pedestrian who heard yells for help also called EMS. The local police arrived followed by the fire department and EMS personnel 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) Ensure that only rope pulley systems with brakes are used for hoisting and lowering tasks ; 2) Develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for using rope pulley systems that include voice and hand signals and barricading off the pulley's fall zone ; 3) Develop, implement, and enforce a comprehensive safety and health program and provide training which includes hazard recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions, such as the hazards associated with using rope pulley systems.
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Construction Industry
  • Construction Materials
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
  • Safety Management
  • Staff Development
• Keywords:
  • OSHA Region 1
  • Accident-analysis
  • Accident-prevention
  • Accidents
  • Injuries
  • Injury-prevention
  • Safety-education
  • Safety-equipment
  • Safety-measures
  • Safety-monitoring
  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Foreign Born Workers ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE10MA032
• 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:
  1-6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040326
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2012-105553
• 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 10MA032, 2011 Oct ; :1-6
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• 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-10MA032
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/165225/cdc_165225_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 226.02 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1aabec76875a2a2aa92c1ad624f52f87da8acfdad6e23f9ada96f45916fa4d918edd592cfa721de88f90f9095be5701f3fb86e4239ee4fe2b5a9935497193e67