Construction fatality narrative: roofer falls 45 feet through skylight.

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 29-year-old roofer fell 45 feet through a hole in a roof while installing skylights. He worked for his employer, a residential and light commercial roofing contractor, for 16 months. He was on a crew installing roofing insulation and skylights on a large industrial building under construction. Multiple contractors were hired for the project, which involved installing 77 skylights. Another contractor's framing crew had just cut a hole from a boom lift underneath the roof deck. They then hand signaled the roofers to carry a skylight lid to cover a hole. They Skylight hole and lid on roof. selected an unsecured, approximately four-foot wide by eight-foot long lid and lifted it at opposite ends with the coworker holding the front. They took a half step forward when the coworker heard the roofer's end drop. He looked back and did not see the roofer, realizing he had fallen through a hole they did not know was under the lid. The coworker alerted his foreman and they ran downstairs. They found the roofer on his back, seriously injured and unresponsive where he landed on gravel after falling 45 feet. Several workers inside saw him fall, called 911, and began CPR. First responders soon arrived but could not save his life. Following the incident, investigators found: 1) The roofers were not experienced nor trained in skylight installations. They were going back and forth between installing insulation and skylights, which may have confused them about which skylights were secured. Visibility on the roof was impacted by the bundles of insulation. 2) Fall protection warning lines were in place at the roof edge and around a roof ladder access hatch but no fall protection was being used by roofers inside the lines where skylight holes were present. The boom lift basket, which had been moved from below the hole before the fall occurred, was being used as a fall catch platform. This practice was against the manufacturer's safety guidelines and state fall protection rules. 3) The employer, supervisors, and workers lacked understanding of state fall protection requirements for skylight holes and when a monitor or catch is acceptable to be used. The employer's fall protection work plan (FPWP) did not identity skylight holes as fall hazards. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Construction Industry Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Fatalities; Safety education; Construction; Roofers; Fall protection; Roofing industry
• 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:20070953
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-266-2025, 2025 May; :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: roofer falls 45 feet through skylight
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/246443/cdc_246443_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]