Fatality Narrative: Window Cleaner Falls 50 Feet

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 70-year-old self-employed window cleaner died when he fell 50 feet while cleaning the windows of a public library building. He had been cleaning windows for 50 years. On the day of the incident, he was working alone to clean the windows of a three-story library. He had cleaned the building's windows twice per year for over four years. He brought his own suspension system, a portable rolling roof outrigger beam, also known as a "roof rig." The roof rig had a metal frame carriage mounted on wheels with a metal beam that extended over the edge of the flat roof. The end of the beam had an anchor point where he attached the descent line for his boatswain's chair. He seated himself in the boatswain's chair and positioned himself over the edge of the roof's parapet. The roof rig was designed to have counterweights on it, but he had not attached them-they were found on the rooftop after the incident. In addition, he did not tie back the roof rig to any of the certified rooftop anchorage points available nearby. He was wearing a fall protection harness with a lifeline that he tied off to the back of the roof rig instead of one of the anchor points. Without the counterweights in place and the roof rig not tied back, the weight of the window cleaner pulled the roof rig off the roof and he and the rig fell 50 feet, landing on asphalt. He died at the scene. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accidental Falls
  • Accidents
  • Construction Industry
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Occupational Health
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Risk Assessment
  • Risk Factors
  • Safety
  • Staff Development
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Falls
  • Fall protection
  • Window cleaning
  • Scaffolds
  • Personal protective equipment
  • PPE
  • Personal protection
  • Protective equipment
  • Training
  • Safety
  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:20056064
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-181-2019, 2019 May; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: window cleaner falls 50 feet
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228918/cdc_228918_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 575.89 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:49e884e5421bb9bd7e9bdd6ef7637cc93b09ad8817460f0071ae9c03f3a854a126207ee6790c58f39f2277874f7310193df187bae7989fd6d22d4ac2ae910e15