Construction Fatality Narrative: Framer Struck by Wall, Falls through Floor Opening: Washington, Report 71-274-2026

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 73-year-old framer died when he fell through a floor opening after being struck by a wall. He had worked for his employer, a residential framing contractor, for eight years. He was on a six-worker crew raising an external wood-framed wall that was around 14 feet high and weighed 2100 lbs. They were raising the wall from a concrete slab floor over a basement. The crew was using two portable iron wall jacks installed on two 12- foot-high two-by-four lumber posts. The jacks were under the wall's top plate, and the posts were standing straight up and unsecured on the floor. Their plan was to manually ratchet the jacks up the posts to lift the wall into place. After the crew began to lift, they attached a pair of two-by-four lumber push sticks to a window cutout in the upper part of the wall. The framer was pushing the stick on the right side of the cutout. When the wall reached a 70-degree tilt angle, the crew attached wood braces to the posts to support the jacks higher up. The crew then finished raising the wall into its fully vertical position. Once the wall was up, the wall jack posts were free standing. Before the wall could be secured, a worker yelled, "watch out," as a brace on the right side gave way. The wall collapsed and struck the framer in the back of his head. The impact made him fall through an unguarded four-foot by eight-foot floor opening beside him. He fell eight feet to the concrete floor below. His co-workers called 911 and began CPR until first responders arrived. The worker was pronounced dead at the scene. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS - Following the incident, investigators found: The floor opening had been covered by the wall before it was raised. The employer did not ensure that workers used a guardrail, cover, or other fall protection system to prevent falling into the opening. Crew stated they did not have enough lumber to cover the opening as they usually did. The crew had recent guardrail systems and overhead hazards training and much experience raising walls. REQUIREMENTS - Employers must: Protect employees from falling into or through holes four feet or more to the ground or lower level by one of the following fall protection systems: (i) A standard guardrail system, or the equivalent, on all open sides, except where there is entrance to a ramp, stairway, or ladder. The guardrail must be provided with a standard toeboard wherever, beneath the open sides, persons can pass, or there is moving machinery, or there is equipment with which falling materials could create a hazard; (ii) A cover; (iii) A warning line system erected at least 15 feet from all unprotected sides or edges of the hole; (iv) When the cover, guardrail system, or warning line system must be temporarily removed to perform a specific task, an employee must remain at the hole until the cover, guardrail system, or warning line system is replaced. The only duty the employee must perform is to warn persons entering the area of the fall hazard. The employee must be protected from the fall hazard by a personal fall arrest system or personal fall restraint system; or (v) Personal fall arrest systems or personal fall restraint systems. RECOMMENDATIONS - FACE investigators concluded, that to help prevent similar occurrences, employers should: Develop accident prevention program (APP) policies. Policies should require workers to (1) manually support and secure walls after raising, and (2) install and secure covers before working around openings. Create a restricted access zone. Its length and width should equal the wall plus 4 feet on both sides of it. Mark the zone and continuously monitor it to prevent access while the wall is being raised and secured. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accidental Falls
  • Construction
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Occupational Health
  • Safety
• Keywords:
  • Fatalities
  • Safety education
  • Falling objects
  • Falls
  • Construction
  • Safety practices
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  All ; Construction ; Falls ; Falls - Construction - Residential
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• 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:
  2 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071734
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-274-2026, 2026 Mar; :1-2
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  238130 - Framing Contractors - (NAICS 2022)
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2026/06/30
• Resource Number:
  71-274-2026
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/259959/cdc_259959_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 188.73 KB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:09405f0020817a559b9ba5a95e72ccb910859f0e96d74e9315bfc5c2087441264ef37f3a65c8ebbea5ab1139039803b70d85d533fdc8fc9088e22f7d0f8c4b6b