Construction Injury Narrative: Framer Struck by Falling Wall Section [2020]

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 38-year-old framer was severely injured during the raising of a wall when a section of the wall fell on him. The framer had worked in the construction industry for fifteen years. This was his second day on the job with his employer, a new single-family housing construction contractor. On the day of the incident the framer, a carpenter, and the crew leader were working at a two-story house construction site. They were using wall jacks, 16-foot long 2x4 poles, and self-supporting ladders to raise a sheeted wood frame exterior wall on the upper floor of the house. The wall was approximately 43 feet long by 13 feet high. The workers did not determine the weight of the wall prior to raising it, but after the incident the wall was estimated to weigh at least 1,000 lbs. As they were raising the wall, the framer was working on one end of the wall, the crew leader on the other end, and the carpenter was in the middle. When they had raised it about eight feet, they stopped to place brace poles. Their plan was to secure the wall with braces and then when other workers arrived on site they would push up the wall the rest of the way by hand. As the framer was securing a brace pole under the wall, the pole broke. The wall then fell in sections, with one section striking and crushing him underneath. He suffered multiple fractures and internal injuries. The other workers were not injured. When work started again several days later, seven workers lifted the wall. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Construction Industry
  • Construction Materials
  • Education
  • Mortality
  • Occupational Health
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Safety
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Workers
  • Work environment
  • Construction
  • Construction equipment
  • Construction materials
  • Construction workers
  • Weight factors
  • Lifting capacity
  • Lifting
  • Protective equipment
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Fact Sheet
• 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:20059889
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-195-2020, 2020 May; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: contractor struck by falling wall section
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/229002/cdc_229002_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 255.52 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e618047dbaf221cfa975a81d88b4867ce3dca5a4dcbe525df33486a7755111e261229746071c80fa87e48ef1eb10f87d20cfd93470d92c497c5ef824d7a5ee04