An Electrical Worker Dies When He Falls Through a Skylight While Installing Solar Panels on the Roof of a Warehouse

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cierpich, Hank ; Harrison, Robert ; Styles, Laura
• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Public Health. Occupational Health Branch
• Description:
  A 46-year-old electrical worker died when he fell through a skylight on a roof while installing solar panels. The victim was carrying solar panels and walking backwards because of the limited space around the skylight. As the victim was walking backwards, he tripped on the raised edge of the skylight frame and fell onto the skylight. The skylight glazing (the transparent portion of the skylight) broke under the impact and the victim fell approximately 40 feet to the ground below. Although the skylight label indicated that it was tested in accordance with OSHA fall protection standards, there are currently no uniform test criteria to determine material strength to withstand worker impact. The CA/FACE investigator determined that in order to prevent future incidents, employers of workers who install solar panels on roofs with skylights should: 1.) Develop, implement, and enforce a fall protection program to prevent falls through skylights.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Electricity Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Electrical-workers Injuries Injury-prevention Occupational-accidents Occupational-hazards OSHA Region 9 Protective-measures Roofing-and-sheet-metal-work Safety-education Safety-engineering Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Traumatic-injuries Work-areas Work-operations Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Falls ; Falls - Construction - Commercial ; Falls - Construction - Roofs
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE09CA003
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037043
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2010-113169
• 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 09CA003, 2009 Sep ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Performing Organization:
  California 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:c0ad184bcb6a70181277bdd8adf549f5e95642d9cccc148925c0320cffc8f67f0c4c572791581c7c494cc8a07a65b478a553e35515dcf9fd6dd3148581e9fcb9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/165287/cdc_165287_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 703.93 KB ]