Laborer falls through skylight opening in warehouse roof to the ground below and dies in California

Details

• Personal Author:
  Harrison, Robert ; Styles, Laura ; Tibben, Richard W.
• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Health Services. Occupational Health Branch
• Description:
  A 39-year-old laborer (decedent) died when he fell through an opening in a warehouse roof 20 feet, 7 inches to the ground below. The employer was demolishing the roof of a warehouse. The decedent had removed the skylight covering the opening and was in the process of removing ventilation equipment. As he was walking and changing the socket on his power wrench, he stepped on a 4X8 foot sheet of plywood covering the opening. The plywood gave way and the decedent fell through the opening. The plywood had been nailed to the roof's frame from inside the building during the time the building sat empty. The opening was not otherwise guarded or marked. The decedent was not wearing personal fall protection. The CA/FACE investigator determined that, in order to prevent future occurrences, employers should as part of their Injury and Illness Prevention Programs (IIPP): 1. guard roof openings to prevent employees from walking on surfaces with unknown load ratings or provide personal fall protection. 2. ensure visual warnings are placed around all area that present a fall hazard.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Demolition-industry Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 9 Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Protective-equipment Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Traumatic-injuries Warning-signs Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Falls ; Hispanic ; Falls - Construction - Commercial ; Foreign Born Workers ; Energy Production ; Falls - Construction - Roofs
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE98CA011
• 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:
  5 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027194
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-111657
• 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 98CA011, 1999 Feb ; :1-5
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1999
• Performing Organization:
  California Department of Health Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f7e7a71f6e1fc5502acc02bf2ebb9487ae3d8449fab474c13212b3e64e7ad3fea05cfb5c80d3374795c0f791b15a0b5f4586d8c860b2b30afe948f342034da4a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/168977/cdc_168977_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 17.50 KB ]