Police Officer Dies in 41-Foot Fall from Roof of Fire Training Tower - Alaska

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bledsoe, Gary ; Middaugh, John
• Corporate Authors:
  Alaska Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Project (Alaska FACE) ; Alaska. Division of Public Health. Section of Epidemiology. Occupational Injury Prevention Program
• Description:
  On May 3, 1992, a 39-year-old, male police officer (the victim) sustained severe head injuries as a result of a fall of 41 feet from the roof of a four-story fire training tower. He died as a result of these injuries on May 4, 1992. The victim was participating in a mountain rescue training exercise called a "vertical lower" This maneuver involved the lowering of a mock casualty in a rescue litter and a medical attendant from the roof to simulate the rescue of an injured person in mountainous terrain. As the victim assisted three other participants move the litter off the retaining wall ledge of the training tower, the 400-pound litter fell. The victim was pulled from the roof as he either attempted to prevent the litter from falling or could not let go of the litter. He struck his head on the asphalt pavement below. The mock casualty and medical attendant also fell, suffering serious but nonfatal injuries. The only personal protective equipment used was a fire helmet worn by the mock casualty. The victim was examined in the local hospital emergency room and evacuated by air transport to a major trauma care facility in another state. He died the following morning. The FACE investigator concluded that, in order to prevent similar occurrences, employers should: 1. ensure that hazardous training exercises have an assigned safety officer and a sufficient number of instructors to enable adequate monitoring of participant activities 2. ensure that a secondary means of fall protection is in place for all participants on training towers 3. ensure that the load line is completely reset in the brake system immediately after each "vertical lower" exercise 4. ensure that protective helmets are worn by all participants during training exercises 5. ensure that live loads (individuals rather than substitute weights or dummies) are not used in rescue litters during training exercises 6. ensure that training course participants understand how all system components interact in complex load line/braking mechanisms.
• Content Notes:
  Publication Date provided by FACE program
  
  not printed on the report.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Emergency Responders Law Enforcement Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Emergency-responders Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 10 Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Police-officers Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-helmets Safety-measures Safety-practices Training Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-environment Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Falls
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE92AK016
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Alaska ; OSHA Region 10
• 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:20026866
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2012-109003
• 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 92AK016, 1992 Nov ; :1-6
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1993
• Performing Organization:
  Alaska Department of Health and Social 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-512:401446e4fd07a372c5768560df87f33193c8048db90cef37cf242d28ca9a1dcfd9081e312f72f1d1ecdcf29f50a36deea38fbf9fc033017450a8ee574270d43d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169133/cdc_169133_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 22.36 KB ]