Fall from a Scaffold Involving a Construction Foreman: FACE 82-02

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program
• Description:
  The case of a 29-year-old male construction foreman who was killed as the result of a fall from a scaffold was examined. On August 16, 1982, workers were securing metal trusses to the block and metal sidewall framing of a building under construction. While working with another employee on a 16-foot scaffold without guardrails, a truss, which had been hoisted into place and aligned with a wooden spacer, began to rotate. Both workers grabbed the truss and the movement of the truss knocked over the scaffold causing the foreman to fall to a concrete slab below. The other worker on the scaffold who had let go of the truss was able to hold onto a previously secured truss to prevent himself from falling. The victim died approximately 24 hours later due to a massive subdural hematoma. Factors which may have contributed to this accident included the use of open ended and cracked wood spacers, disregard on the part of the victim for his own safety, and the absence of guardrails on the scaffold. It was recommended that a more suitable spacer be used in future projects, that worker safety education stress the importance of not grabbing onto large objects in motion, and that all scaffold platforms be equipped with guard rails.
• Subjects:
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Accidental Falls
  • Construction Industry
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Nervous System
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
• Keywords:
  • Accident-analysis
  • Safety-research
  • Construction-equipment
  • Traumatic-injuries
  • Head-injuries
  • Construction-workers
  • Construction-Search
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  All ; Construction ; Falls ; Falls - Construction - Commercial ; Falls - Construction - Scaffolds
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE8202
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  West Virginia ; 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:
  3 pdf pages
• Volume:
  1982
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00217758
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB94-152170
• 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:
  1982
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS 2022)
• Start Date:
  1982/08/16
• Resource Number:
  FACE 82-02
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167495/cdc_167495_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 191.54 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cf788537e0d3188949871ac3277b9c734cfc1f057dc9a058dd47adf964777d832f64ed7d00577ddc616ecfb4265092250a7ed3f1c68411220dd162c020c5b5f1