Tower Construction Worker Dies Following 200 Foot Fall From Radio Tower

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Missouri Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Program (MO FACE) ; Missouri. Department of Health
• Description:
  On October 14, 1998, a 35-year-old male tower erector (victim) working for a tower erection company died after falling 200 feet while attached to the gin pole. The victim was part of a four-man crew working on the erection of a 400-foot, three-sided radio tower. The workers were in the process of extending the gin pole above the existing tower sections in preparation for raising the next section of tower. The victim had climbed to the top of the tower and set the jumper block in place with a one-quarter-inch sling wrapped over the tower section's top flange. This jumper block was then used to raise the gin pole into position. The victim then climbed down the tower and released the bridle and basket chokers supporting the weight of the gin pole on the tower. He then climbed from the tower and onto the base plate of the gin pole, using his positioning lanyards to tie himself off. A coworker operating the wench began lifting the gin pole into position with the victim attached. The sling cable supporting the weight of the gin pole and the victim failed causing them to fall to the ground. The victim was killed instantly upon impact with the ground. The purpose of the FACE Program is to identify risk factors that contribute to worker injury and death, and to make recommendations to employers and individuals on how similar events can be avoided. From the information collected about this incident, the MO FACE investigator concluded that employers should: 1. instruct workers not to use the gin pole for ascent or decent during tower construction activities and continually stress and enforce to all employees the importance of following established safety rules and procedures at all times
  
  2. ensure that employees are trained in the proper selection and use of slings and chokers
  
  3. ensure that equipment is used in accordance with manufacturer's specifications
  
  4. ensure 100 percent fall protection while working on towers.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Construction-industry Construction-workers Control-equipment Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 7 Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Protective-equipment Safety-education Safety-engineering Safety-equipment Safety-monitoring Safety-practices Safety-programs Training Traumatic-injuries

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Falls
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE98MO102
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Missouri ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  9 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026266
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-111115
• 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 98MO102, 1999 May ; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1999
• Performing Organization:
  Missouri Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2002/03/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c12f77e7c8b0900da3be3e34dcb426548cf0484123d9310ef6c9f8fc1a3856005bcc7e30ffe0db03c8e739e16c7aff63e9967992571a6011cf350faaede7bf89
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170261/cdc_170261_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 25.65 KB ]