Construction Foreman Dies After Falling 32 Feet Through a Floor Opening

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  New Jersey Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Project (NJ FACE) ; New Jersey. Department of Health and Senior Services. Occupational Health Service
• Description:
  On September 16, 1993, a 56-year-old male construction foreman was critically injured after falling 32 feet through a floor opening at the construction site of a sewage pumping station. The incident occurred while the victim and his crew were constructing wooden forms for a concrete pour. While walking across a concrete slab that covered the pumping station, the victim stepped onto several sheets of plywood used to cover a floor opening in the slab. The plywood shifted, causing the victim to fall through the opening into the cement vault below. He died of complications related to his injuries six days after the incident. NJDOH FACE investigators concluded that, in order to prevent similar incidents in the future, these safety guidelines should be followed: 1. Employers should ensure that all floor openings are protected with a standard railing or floor opening cover secured against displacement. 2. General contractors and subcontractors should conduct a job hazard analysis of the work area with their employees. 3. General contractors should utilize contract language requiring subcontractors to implement a safety and health program prior to starting work.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Construction Materials Occupational Health Safety Safety Management
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Construction Construction-industry Construction-materials Construction-workers Hazards Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 2 Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Traumatic-injuries Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Falls ; Falls - Construction - Commercial ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE93NJ085
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  4 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026560
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2013-109344
• 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 93NJ085, 1994 Apr ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1994
• Performing Organization:
  New Jersey Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2005/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ea6f5e3ff2615bcd855acd0294e4ef639511384f05422aa52bae420a86f7ae432d24b8258cbc76ffce3cad4586d252ab66daf700a4bc4601d731d5809ec4bbb2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170091/cdc_170091_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 72.64 KB ]