Tag Archives: Fall

Worker Safety

Ironworker Falls 80 Feet through Bent Plate Gap

The Washington Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program* has published a new Injury Narrative. The new narrative describes an incident where an ironworker fell from a roof into a debris net. 

These are one-page reports that summarize work-related incidents and list some requirements and recommendations that might have prevented the incident from occurring. For your convenience, this narrative is also available as a Slideshow intended to be used as a group discussion and training tool.

FACE is focusing on the construction industry. These narratives provide preliminary information about the incident to the interested community, similar to OSHA’s Fatal Facts and MSHA’s Fatalgrams. FACE hopes that they are used for formal or informal educational opportunities to help prevent similar incidents.

 Ironworker Falls 80 Feet through Bent Plate Gap

 

A 29-year-old ironworker was severely injured after falling through a bent plate gap and landing 80 feet below in a debris net. Coworkers rescued him from the net. He suffered numerous injuries, and still had not returned to work nearly a year after the incident.

The ironworker’s employer was a structural steel and precast concrete contractor. He had worked for his employer for over four years and he had been an ironworker for 10 years.

See the full details of the report, including safety requirements and recommendations, here.

 

 

Safety violations

Fatal Fall Investigation Results in Citation and Fine for Aberdeen, WA Lumber Mill

An Aberdeen lumber mill has been fined $112,000 for safety violations following the death of a worker last April. Andrew Ward, 41, died when he fell from an elevated platform where he was working to the concrete surface below.

An investigation by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has found and cited Sierra Pacific Industries for seven safety violations at the lumber mill where the incident happened.

L&I’s investigation found that a section of permanent yellow guardrail was removed from the 17-and-a-half-foot-high platform and replaced with yellow caution tape so that a crane could move some equipment. When Ward went to the edge of the platform to communicate with the crane operator below, he leaned forward and fell.

The investigation found that the employer knew that caution tape cannot be used in place of guardrails at a high elevation, but still regularly allowed it to happen. Additionally, the employer was required to provide workers with a fall protection system, such as a harness, lanyard and tie-off point, while working on the elevated platform without adequate guardrails, and when removing them.

As a result, Sierra Pacific has been cited for a willful violation, the most serious, with the maximum penalty of $70,000 for not ensuring that an open-sided work platform was adequately guarded and for not ensuring employees wore fall protection equipment.

“A death like this is especially tragic because it was completely preventable by using proper fall protection and following safe work practices,” said Anne Soiza, L&I’s assistant director for the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. “Falls are the leading cause of worker deaths and immediate hospitalizations. Employers need to be vigilant about preventing falls.”

The employer was cited for an additional six serious violations, each with the maximum penalty of $7,000. Those violations covered a range of serious hazards that exposed workers to harm, including ineffective safety and health training; a safety program that wasn’t tailored to company operations; inadequate personal protective equipment training; untrained crane personnel; and not following safety precautions required for open flame work.

Because of the willful violation that led to the death of a worker, Sierra Pacific Industries has been placed on the severe violator list and will be subject to follow-up inspections to determine if the conditions still exist in the future.

The company has appealed the violations.

Photo credit: Safety poster by Gravitec Systems, providers of training, equipment and testing.

Workers' Compensation

Window Washer Killed From Fall in Tacoma, WA

KING-TV reports that a window washer was killed after falling from a building in downtown Tacoma Thursday, September 16, 2015. It happened at the Davita Building at 1423 Pacific Avenue, near the Tacoma Children’s Museum.

The Pierce County Medical Examiner identified the man killed as 30-year-old Timothy Thomas Sargent.

He worked for United Building Services out of Seattle. There was initially no word of how he fell. Tacoma Police and L&I are investigating.

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries said this employer has been cited four of the past six inspections for serious violations related to fall prevention.