Massachusetts construction worker dies in fall through a roof opening while performing iron work.
Source
NIOSH 1994 Sep; :1-3
Abstract
On January 31, 1994 a 23 year old, male, construction worker was fatally injured on a Massachusetts construction site when he fell approximately 20 feet through a roof opening to ice covered ground. The victim was not wearing any fall protection. On the day of the incident the victim and his coworkers were positioning and welding metal decking to the structural steel beams. The victim had been pulled off this job, and was capping the roof when he fell through the 3 by 40 square foot opening. Sheet metal workers found the unconscious victim lying on the ground, and yelled for assistance. An iron working coworker immediately sought emergency medical assistance and the victim was airlifted to a hospital where he died the next day of multiple injuries. To prevent future similar occurrences, the FACE Program recommends that employers: 1. Require floor openings to be adequately protected and/or personal protective equipment to be used in the presence of fall hazards; 2. Ensure that fall protection equipment is provided and used by all employees whenever any work is preformed at an elevation where the potential for a serious or fatal fall exists; 3. Design, develop and implement a comprehensive safety program that includes, but is not limited to fall protection.
Keywords
Region-1; Accident-analysis; Accident-prevention; Accidents; Injuries; Injury-prevention; Traumatic-injuries; Work-operations; Work-analysis; Work-areas; Work-performance; Work-practices; Safety-education; Safety-equipment; Safety-measures; Safety-monitoring; Protective-measures; Personal-protection; Personal-protective-equipment; Protective-equipment; Safety-programs; Construction; Construction-industry; Construction-workers; Roofing-and-sheet-metal-work
Document Type
Field Studies; Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation
Funding Type
Cooperative Agreement
Identifying No.
FACE-94MA011; Cooperative-Agreement-Number-U60-CCU-108704
Source Name
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Performing Organization
Massachusetts Department of Health
