Massachusetts Roofing Company Laborer Dies in Fall Through Skylight

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Project (Massachusetts FACE) ; Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  On September 3, 1993, a 32 year old male Massachusetts roofing company laborer died in a fall through a skylight. Taking a break from his work on a flat, built-up roof, the victim sat on a skylight to have a drink from his water cooler. Moments later the victim broke through the skylight and fell approximately twenty-eight feet to the building's concrete floor. Within minutes of the incident, emergency medical services personnel were summoned and arrived to transport the victim to a regional hospital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital approximately forty minutes after his fall. In order to prevent similar future occurrences, the Massachusetts FACE Project recommends that employers: 1. Ensure that all workers required to work near roof openings or skylights are adequately trained to recognize the serious hazard of falls through roof openings, and the danger of sitting or stepping on a skylight. 2. Guard skylight openings with screens or railings. 3. Develop, implement, and enforce a comprehensive safety program that includes, but is not limited to, job site hazard surveys and worker training in fall hazard recognition. Furthermore, manufacturers of skylights should: 4. Affix conspicuous decals to each skylight, warning individuals against sitting or stepping on these units. Lastly, state building code officials should: 5. Consider including a provision in the building code which would require all skylights installed in new or renovated buildings to be of the sufficient strength to support the weight of a worker who sat, stepped, or fell on one.
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Construction Industry
  • Occupational Health
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Safety
  • Safety Management
  • Staff Development
  • Workplace
• Keywords:
  • OSHA Region 1
  • Accident-analysis
  • Accident-prevention
  • Accidents
  • Injuries
  • Injury-prevention
  • Traumatic-injuries
  • Work-operations
  • Work-analysis
  • Work-areas
  More +
• 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/NIOSHSFACE93MA016
• 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:
  1-4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20028413
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2012-113423
• 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 93MA016, 1994 Oct ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1992/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Resource Number:
  FACE-93MA016
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166654/cdc_166654_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 17.50 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ae80118f76e327d90966364483db8ee287ca9cb4b08404302f7dfd46ed3634a3136d7ef9d7fd5fc520c9bf1da0758afeee995426e964c9fd44e147f059e6e206