A 16-Year-Old Roofer Helper Dies After 28-Foot Fall Down an Unguarded Elevator Shaft Opening - Pennsylvania

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program
• Description:
  On June 10, 2000, a 16-year-old roofer helper (the victim) died after falling approximately 28 feet down an unguarded elevator shaft opening. The victim's employer (the victim's father) had been subcontracted to put a roof on a two-story commercial office building under construction. On the day of the incident, the victim and his 25-year-old brother were cutting and stacking lumber for roof trusses on the second floor of the structure. To cut the lumber for trusses, the brothers were placing it on wood sawhorses. They had set the sawhorses up in the vicinity of a 19-foot, 7-inch by 25-foot, 2-inch unguarded elevator shaft opening in the floor. The brothers had been working cutting the lumber since 8 a.m. in the same area. At approximately 2 p.m., the older brother told the victim to pick up the scrap lumber around the sawhorses and clean up the work area. The older brother then walked around one sawhorse to pick up the circular saw while the victim walked around the other sawhorse toward the unguarded elevator shaft. The older brother heard boards rattling and looked up and didn't see the victim. He went to the edge of the unguarded shaft opening and saw the victim lying on the dirt floor at the bottom of the elevator shaft. An employee of the prime contractor working at ground level heard a noise and looked over to see the victim lying on the ground. He ran to the victim, then to the company truck to call 911. The victim had a faint pulse and shallow breathing. When the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) responded, they attended to the victim then transported him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident Prevention Construction Workers Injury Prevention OSHA Region 3 Safety Education Safety Practices Traumatic Injuries Young Workers
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Youth
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE200023
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Pennsylvania ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  5 pages
• Contributor:
  Casini, Virgil J.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20024403
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2005-101102
• Citation:
  Morgantown, : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2000/06/10
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4566dccaae5a231a6da1fba02b0a7b4d1d49bca03c059fcc31e0dc30f87936abd7c6c3429372ba217e1138527b62c02f0b0fea84bb7ef420a5438b8af2b663db
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167332/cdc_167332_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 31.42 KB ]