Ironworker falls to his death from a steel column in Indiana, March 28, 1988.
Authors
NIOSH
Source
Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 88-15, 1988 Nov; :1-5
The case of a 35 year old male ironworker who died when he fell 60 feet from a steel column to a concrete pad was examined. The victim was a professional ironworker with more than 10 years experience. The victim was a member of a construction crew setting a tier of exterior steel columns for a large multistory building. The crew was in the process of setting a large 30 inch by 24 inch by 30 foot steel column, 30 inches wide on the flange side. Two tower cranes were used to position the column. Once in place, it was necessary to disconnect the cables that were used to hoist and position the column. In order to disconnect the upper cable, the victim climbed the 30 inch wide face of the column, holding on to the flanges. As the flanges were 6 inches thick, the victim could not grip the flange as he would on a smaller column. In attempting to reach a lug that he needed to hold while disconnecting the hoist cable assembly, he began to slide down the column. When his leg hit the bottom collar, he fell to a concrete pad 60 feet below. He died of multiple blunt force injuries. Fall protection should have been supplied. Safety considerations should have indicated the hazards of the job. Management should ensure that a written safety policy exists and that the requirements are enforced on the job site. The employee had a safety belt and lanyard at the worksite but failed to use them.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.
For more information on CDC's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
CDC.gov Privacy Settings
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.