Fatality Narrative: Roofer Falls from Extension Ladder When It Collapses

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  On June 5, 2007, a roofer received fatal injuries after a fall from a ladder. The 20-year-old victim worked for a roofing contractor and had two years experience in this trade. On the incident day, the victim was working with a crew at a condominium complex where they were re-roofing several units. The victim and other crew members completed roofing one condominium unit and moved on to work on the roof of another unit. The victim returned to retrieve tools from the first unit's roof. He accessed the roof by climbing up a 32-foot extension ladder. Before descending the ladder, the victim used his cell phone to ask a coworker to hold the ladder for him. The coworker arrived and held the ladder. The roof line where the ladder was positioned was 25 feet above ground level. The ladder was not extended, so the victim before he began to climb down, pulled the ladder up higher, causing it to extend a bit so that about one rung of the ladder was above the roof line. The victim, holding a drill case in one hand, began to descend the ladder, when at the same moment the ladder telescoped down slightly (the rung locks where not fully engaged) causing the victim to fall about 25 feet to an asphalt surface below. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he died the next day of blunt head and chest trauma. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidental Falls
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Construction Industry
  • Education
  • Mortality
  • Occupational Health
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Safety
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Workers
  • Work environment
  • Roof falls
  • Roofers
  • Roofing
  • Ladders
  • Falls
  • Fall protection
  • Construction equipment
  • Construction
  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:20051707
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-72-2008, 2008 Jun; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: roofer falls from extension ladder when it collapses
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228801/cdc_228801_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 45.41 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b1bbb5bd927799de60f35d3cc3e25cdb19d09cc094d02312fa4e1e663e25fc7e57abd2f9a7532489ba7ebceed9d79a740469c70206e045066344346eb25f6a61