Fatality Narrative: Construction Laborer Falls When Ladder Breaks

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  In January of 2016, a 53-year-old construction laborer was injured and later died after an extension ladder he was climbing broke and he fell 12 feet. On the day of the incident, the victim and a co-worker were installing flashing over fire sprinkler heads on the exterior of a building. The victim wanted to inspect a sprinkler mounted on the building exterior. He placed a ladder against the side of the building. The ladder was a 24-foot, Type 2 medium duty/ commercial use fiberglass extension ladder with a load capacity of 225lbs. The other worker stood at the bottom of the ladder holding its rails while the victim climbed up the ladder. As he was climbing, the ladder broke at its upper section. It bent and broke at both rails. The victim fell 12 feet to the asphalt surface of the ground. He suffered multiple injuries and was in a coma for several weeks before he died. Investigators were unable to determine exactly why the ladder failed. A contributing factor was that the ladder had pre-existing fractures that were not the result of a manufacturing defect. The victim's weight was not determined and it is unknown whether it was a factor. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accidents Body Weight Construction Industry Construction Materials Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Body Weight Construction Construction Equipment Construction Materials Equipment Design Equipment Maintenance Equipment Reliability Fall Protection Falls Hazards Injuries Ladders Safety Measures Safety Practices Traumatic Injuries Work Environment Workers

  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Publisher:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• 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:20051398
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-155-2017, 2017 Feb; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: construction laborer falls when ladder breaks
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e68a2d38d54807c8a1069c884f96b627dff852539da8e28f0956a77fc3cd53658b383193b80a4f37fc98d1cfe9ead8813642ddc822ad50b2f711e36fdcf989ea
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228727/cdc_228727_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 404.85 KB ]