Fatality Narrative: Laborer Falls 12 Feet Through Barn Roof

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  In September of 2016, a 54-year-old construction laborer fell 12 feet to his death when he stepped on a portion of the metal roof of a dairy cow barn and it gave way. It was his first day on the job working for his employer, a small general contractor. Investigators were unable to determine his construction work experience. A dairy farm owner hired the employer to do remodeling and make repairs around the dairy. For the past several years, the employer had done work around the farm. On the day of the incident, the victim and another laborer were working on a damaged barn roof. They were to replace the badly deteriorated metal roof peppered with rusty, pitted areas and damaged trusses. A year earlier, dairy workers had placed plastic sheeting on the roof as a temporary fix to prevent rain from coming through the damaged roof. The victim and the other laborer were prepping the 3/12 pitch roof for repairs by removing the plastic sheeting. The employer and the laborers were aware of how severely damaged the roof was. The employer did not require or provide fall protection and told the laborers to walk on the purlins, not the damaged metal roofing. The laborers spent the morning and early afternoon working on the roof at heights varying from 7 feet at the eaves to 20 ½ feet at the roof peak. At approximately 3 p.m., the victim stepped on a metal roof panel that gave way under his weight, causing him to fall and land on concrete 12 feet below. He died of head injuries at the scene. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accidental Falls
  • Accidents
  • Construction Industry
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
  • Workplace
• Keywords:
  • Workers
  • Work environment
  • Construction
  • Construction workers
  • Falls
  • Fall protection
  • Roofing
  • Roof falls
  • Roof supports
  • Roof support systems
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051386
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-164-2017, 2017 Nov; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: laborer falls 12 feet through barn roof
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228718/cdc_228718_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 330.52 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:74b232d4d9a4ce2639a013f9bbb6fbc014faaec08541ff97b12a0c9bf86abefe6237efe512166d19d24b99f6fedf5d394afb359c6b3cf6d61960ce22bcd6d7be