Fatality Narrative: Laborer Crushed During Demolition of Steel Structure

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  In June of 2015, a 52-year-old laborer was crushed and killed by a falling steel beam. He was helping to demolish a 30-foot-high steel structure that had supported a piece of machinery when it unexpectedly collapsed. The victim was a friend of his employer, who had hired him and another laborer to assist in a demolition and metal scrapping project. The employer had been involved in demolition work and scrapping for 40 years. The victim had not previously done demolition work. The employer had arranged with a food processing plant to demolish the steel structure that had supported a retired cyclone air separator and then sell the steel for scrap. The structure was supported by four steel column legs. It had been moved from its original location and placed on slightly sloping pavement in the plant's yard. The structure's legs were of different lengths, which, combined with the slope, caused it to lean about four feet in the direction of the slope. The employer and his crew decided to lower it in the direction of the lean using a rope attached to a forklift. Working from a platform elevated by the forklift, the victim used a cutting torch to make several cuts to the structure. The forklift was repositioned and a rope was attached to it and rigged to several parts of the metal structure. The victim then climbed up a couple of rungs on a stepladder and cut through a cross bracing. As he was doing this, the structure unexpectedly collapsed. It fell in the opposite direction than was planned. He was crushed under a steel beam and died at the scene. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Mortality
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
  • Staff Development
  • Workplace
• Keywords:
  • Workers
  • Work environment
  • Worker safety
  • Injuries
  • Traumatic injuries
  • Safety
  • Safety measures
  • Safety practices
  • Fatalities
  • Education
  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:20051436
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-147-2016, 2016 Jun; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: laborer crushed during demolition of steel structure
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228732/cdc_228732_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 399.32 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:12875ffa3d55e553f3cee9f0cb04711638aab66111c5cca67514229e79c93c9f0d54e8aa4a5dbf39d5c3cf64d30c76fc48aecf6ec53b9190ec48fc593d838c2e