Construction Injury Narrative: Laborer Severely Injured in 60-Foot Fall from Scissor Lift [2018]

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 39-year-old construction laborer was severely injured when he fell 60 feet to the ground below. He fell through a gap between the scissor lift he was working from and the building when the deck extension platform of the scissor lift moved. The incident took place at job site where a new apartment building was being constructed. The victim had been working for the company for two years. The day before the incident, an employee reported to a foreman that the rental scissor lift had a broken deck extension locking pin. This spring-loaded pin was used to lock the lift's deck extension in place to keep it from moving while in use. The foreman instructed the lift operator to contact the rental company for a replacement pin and continue to use the lift until a new pin arrived. On the day of the incident, the replacement pin had not arrived. The victim and another laborer removed a portion of the lift's platform railing so that they could unload insulation bundles from the lift onto the building's sixth floor. They extended the platform to allow access to the floor. The other laborer positioned himself toward the rear of the platform. As he was using his foot to brace the extension to keep it from moving, he passed a bundle toward the victim who was standing on the extension. The victim received the bundle from the laborer and began rolling it along the platform. As he was doing this, the extension rolled back into the retracted position, causing him to lose his balance and fall through the gap between the building and the lift. He landed 60 feet below. He suffered numerous severe injuries. After more than eight months off work he was ready to return to light duty work. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Construction Industry
  • Education
  • Mortality
  • Occupational Health
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Safety
  • Staff Development
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Workers
  • Work environment
  • Construction industry
  • Construction workers
  • Equipment maintenance
  • Equipment operation
  • Equipment operators
  • Equipment reliability
  • Protective equipment
  • Protective measures
  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:20053874
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-175-2018, 2018 Oct; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Construction injury narrative: laborer severely injured in 60-foot fall from scissor lift
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228897/cdc_228897_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 737.76 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4a48d7596b7cd00dc131009cc963130110d298f7d64c862468d95dddd1141f0f6c198dd0081072dfa5341a27102c589136447ac85bc7f02a423a1af7f9a2eb62