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Sign installer fatally injured in 47 foot fall from billboard.

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 94CO004, 1994 Jul; :1-2

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/stateface/co/94co004.html

20028586

On January 28, 1994 an employee of an outdoor advertising firm in Colorado was fatally injured when he fell from the billboard on which he was working. In this incident, a crew of three were installing new panels on a billboard. Employee #1 (the deceased) was standing on a walkway 47 feet above ground level. As his co-workers lifted each panel from the billboard framework, Employee #1 would push out on the top of the panel to disengage the retaining clips. Just prior to the fatal fall, coworkers observed Employee #1 at his location on the walkway with his safety lanyard attached to the wire rope life line. It is unknown why he disconnected his safety lanyard. As the co-workers were moving a panel, they heard Employee #1 strike a support bar and observed him falling to the ground. The Colorado Department of Health (CDH) investigator concluded that to prevent future similar occurrences, employers should: 1. Implement 29 CFR 1910.23 (c)(1) that requires the use of guard rails on the use of all open-sided floors or platforms four feet or more above adjacent floor or ground level. 2. Develop, implement, and enforce a comprehensive written safety program that includes, but is not limited to, training in fall hazard recognition and the use of fall protection devices. 3. Conduct a work-site survey to assess the potential safety hazards. Once an assessment has been completed, written safety rules and procedures should be developed, implemented, and enforced.

Region-8; 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

19940728

Field Studies; Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation

Cooperative Agreement

1994

PB2009-100506

A01

FACE-94CO004; Cooperative-Agreement-Number-U60-CCU-808518

NAICS-54

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

CO; WV

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment