Fire Department Paramedic Dies after Falling from Helicopter during a Retrieval Operation in California

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Health Services
• Description:
  A 28-year-old white male fire department paramedic died after falling approximately 50 to 75 feet from a helicopter during an attempt to retrieve medical equipment in a state park. The victim worked in the air operations division of the county fire department. The victim was using a tether strap harness and carabineers to secure himself to the helicopter. This was a routine operation procedure for personnel in the air operations division. The restraining system failed causing the victim to fall. Upon recovery, there were no emergency medical kits on board to begin first aid. The CaFACE investigator concluded that, in order to prevent similar future occurrences, employers should: 1. have a standard operating procedure (SOP) stating that coworkers double check each other's equipment before attempting rescue operations 2. have a standard operating procedure (SOP) stating that a certain number of emergency medical kits and life support equipment items are kept on board all rescue helicopters.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Emergency Responders Firefighters First Aid Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace

  More +
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Emergency-responders Fire-fighters First-aid Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 9 Paramedical-services Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Falls
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE93CA002
• 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:
  6 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026987
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2008-100126
• 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 93CA002, 1993 Sep ; :1-6
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1993
• Performing Organization:
  California Department of Health Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (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:ed390906280b1af6b91f2add35b0788c61423588fba8137a2db657da7c676656fa68e373a822c15d4d7fa5798310edcda641f6e4cf7affdc0eb8417fddbf946a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169052/cdc_169052_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 25.31 KB ]