Construction Fatality Narrative: Framer Falls 8 Feet from Rim Joist

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 44-year-old experienced framer fell eight feet from a rim joist while working on a wall. He worked for his employer, a residential contractor, for five years. The framer was with a co-worker removing previously installed second-level floor joists to relocate an inside kitchen wall that was framed in the wrong place. After finishing his task, he went to an outside wall where his co-worker was working. He sat down on a rim joist to wait. The joist was eight feet above the floor decking and had a window opening just below it. He was straddling the joist to support himself above the opening. He then leaned to the inside of the wall and lost balance. Unable to regain balance due to the opening, he fell headfirst to the floor decking below. His co-worker saw him fall, called 911, and began CPR. When first responders arrived, he was breathing but unresponsive. He was then airlifted to the hospital and placed on life support. He died five days later. Following the incident, investigators found: The framer fell from an inside wall height of eight feet, three-quarters inches. The fall hazard to the outside of the wall was nine feet, nine and three-quarters inches. Fall protection was not used because workers were under the 10-foot trigger height for fall protection requirements while installing structural members. The framer attended weekly safety meetings where fall protection was a recurring main topic. The employer had a written accident prevention program (APP) with a fall protection plan. REQUIREMENTS - Employers must: Maintain conditions within the workplace that will not endanger the health, safety or welfare of employees. RECOMMENDATIONS: FACE investigators concluded, that to help prevent similar occurrences employers, should: When workers must walk on top plates, joists, rafters, trusses, beams or other similar structural members, provide fall protection by using scaffolding, aerial lifts, edge protection platforms, guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall protection systems. Train workers to use these methods and equipment properly and periodically evaluate their fall protection knowledge and skills. Arrive on-site before work begins or appoint a supervisor to jointly conduct a site hazard assessment with workers to identify fall hazards and develop fall protection solutions. During the pre-job safety meeting, review the site hazard assessment and discuss workers' responsibilities to use fall protection and follow fall prevention safe work practices. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accidents Construction Industry Occupational Health Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Construction Fall Protection Falls Head Injuries Safety Equipment Training
• 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:
  San Francisco Region [OSHA] ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070728
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-264-2025, 2025 Mar; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Construction fatality narrative: framer falls 8 feet from rim joist
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b7aace99933f9b41931dc311118f9bd718764453e26630ed572410952ee85c3990c6e7a63c8b47134c7561ca99b0723d2688f2da869cecab2768d74efb85b042
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/229236/cdc_229236_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 301.93 KB ]