Fatality Narrative: Laborer Falls Through Roof Opening

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  On Oct. 31, 2011, an 18-year-old laborer was fatally injured when he fell through a roof opening. He was an employee of a contractor who was replacing rotten plywood sheathing and joists on a warehouse roof. The victim, a foreman, and another laborer were working on the building's flat roof tearing out 4'x8' plywood sections and nailing new ones in place. The victim was wearing a full-body harness with a lanyard and using two lifelines hooked together with one of the lines looped around a skylight frame, which served as an anchor point. The other two employees were not using fall protection. The two laborers were taking nails out of a sheet of plywood they had removed when their foreman asked them to move out of the way so that he could place a new sheet of plywood over the roof opening they had exposed. They were then to nail the plywood in place. When the victim moved aside, he stepped onto two pieces of rotten plywood that were not nailed down, and the plywood pieces and unattached joist supporting them gave way. An investigation determined that his rope grab was attached near the end of his lifeline which left too much slack in the line allowing him to fall 30 feet to a concrete floor. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accidents Construction Industry Education Mortality Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Staff Development Workplace
• Keywords:
  Construction Construction Equipment Fall Protection Falls Fatalities Harnesses Injuries Personal Protection Personal Protective Equipment PPE Roofers Roof Falls Roofing Safety Measures Safety Practices Training Traumatic Injuries Work Environment Workers Worker Safety

  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:20051514
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-117-2013, 2013 Jan; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: laborer falls through roof opening
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:404d2e791ed534f6eda6b0fe6c79ecbb648fb7579e7734b7ba31c42bd17b182086b9c4d0857f88a84a2b0e09f0196957afffb07381e9df241df9c193bfb6e790
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228754/cdc_228754_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 145.04 KB ]