Falls in Construction Accident Cases

Examples to Use for Awareness Training

Accident Description: Carpenters were setting trusses on the second floor of a house. There was no floor cover over the stairway opening. While placing a truss in position, one of the carpenters fell through the opening to the concrete basement.

Accident 1• An employee was about 100 ft

high on the roof of a motel installing glass in a skylight. While walking on the skylight framework, he slipped and fell backward through the skylight opening to the ground. The employee was not tied off. He died of massive internal injuries.

Accident 2

• An employee was unreeling an extension cord on a 2nd floor breezeway. The employee was walking backwards when he fell 11 feet. The breezeway was not provided with fall protection.

Accident 3• An employee was applying a base coat for a

stucco application from the 5th level of a system scaffold. There was a 24 inch gap between the scaffold and the face of the building. The employee was applying the base coat to a window trim, and in doing so, the employee lost his balance and fell between the scaffold and the face of the building. The employee fell 33 feet to the ground below and died from massive head injuries.

Accident 4

• A laborer fell through a sky light opening about 8 feet to a patio foundation that had about 20 half-inch rebars protruding straight up. The laborer was impaled by one of the bars and died.

Accident 5• An employee was working from a metal

rolling scaffold approximately 8 ft 3 in. above floor level. He was installing a metal T-bar in the ceiling of a supermarket expansion project. He fell from the scaffold, which had no guardrails, and landed on the concrete floor. He sustained massive head injuries and blood loss. The employee died.

Accident Description: Laborer engaged in the removal of an existing stairway fell through the stairway floor opening. He fell 32 feet.

Accident 6• While standing on the low sloped roof

(approx. 1:12) one employee was showing a new employee on the jobsite how to remove bolts from a metal roof for dismantling. As they discussed their working locations, the new employee stepped backwards onto a fiberglass skylight panel, which was not guarded. He fell approximately 34' to the concrete floor below.

Accident 7• An employee in the basket of an aerial lift, extended the

boom approximately 30 ft to lift and move a crate of glass attached to the bottom of the basket by synthetic slings. The basket's capacity was posted at 500 lb. The glass weighed 1,080 lb. The weight of the load caused the wheels of the lift to leave the ground. When the crate was raised 6 in. above the ground, it struck another crate and the slings around the crate came loose. The aerial lift slammed back onto all four wheels, causing the employee to be catapulted out of the basket at a height of approximately 30 ft. The employee suffered multiple blunt force injuries and died.

Accident Description: Two employees were using a crawling board apparatus to paint a barn roof. The crawling board broke away from the roof and both employees fell 35 feet to the ground. One employee was killed. The other employee sustained multiple injuries.

Accident 8

• Employee was climbing a ladder when the unsecured ladder kicked away from the building. The employee fell 30 feet to pavement. The employee died from head injuries.

Accident 9• An employee working for a private contractor

fell during construction work on a coal barge unloading terminal. The employee had been standing on a 3 ton winching device in an attempt to bring newly installed steel pilings into vertical alignment. During the operation he fell 50 feet. A lifeline for fall protection was available along the entire length of the structure. Full body harnesses were available, but he was not wearing any type of fall protection device.

Accident 10

• An employee was climbing a 10 foot ladder to access a landing which was 9 feet above the adjacent floor. The ladder slid down, and the employee fell to the floor, sustaining fatal injuries. Although the ladder had slip-resistant feet, it was not secured, and the railings did not extend 3 feet above the landing.

Accident Description: A painter foreman climbed over a bridge railing to inspect work being done. He slipped and fell 150 feet to his death.

Accident 11

• A journeyman glazier with 30 years experience, was working from the third level of a metal scaffold. He grabbed the midrail to get up, but it was loose on one end and the rail gave way. The employee fell approximately 19 ft to the ground.

Accident 12• An employee was preparing to release

cables that were holding a 180 foot truss between several other trusses which had been improperly installed. All cross braces were removed except two. As the employee climbed onto the truss just west of the truss to be released, a cable snapped and 6 trusses including the one on which the employee was standing fell 30 feet to the second floor below. The employee was killed.

Accident 13• An owner was using a ladder attached to a rope

secured to a porch column. The rope extended from the porch over the roof peak and was holding a step ladder flush against the metal roof. The owner was securing siding with a nail gun at the chimney. The rope was cut by the edge of the metal roof sending the ladder and the owner down a 12/12 pitched roof to ground level. The owner struck his head on masonry block causing massive head injury.

Accident 14

• An employee pulling a concrete hose along a form fell two stories and hit his head on steel rebars which punctured his brain.

Accident 15• An employee was elevated 20 feet to the

3rd floor of a hotel under construction. He was elevated in a job-made wooden box (work platform) supported by the tines of a rough terrain forklift, designed to lift materials only. The work platform fell off forklift tines, throwing the employee 20 feet to the ground, fatally injuring him with multiple trauma and a massive head injury.

Accident Description: A laborer was working on the third level of a tubular welded-frame scaffold. Planking was inadequate and there was no guardrail. The worker slipped and fell head first20 feet to the pavement below.

Accident 16

• An employee fell from a 1 buck high, single frame scaffold which measured 77" X 7' X 62" deep. The employee was standing on the scaffold deck with a co-worker spreading blocks of bricks, when he turned around and fell head first approximately 9' to the dirt ground. The employee was transported to a local hospital, where he died shortly as a result of his injuries.

Accident 17• An air conditioning installer was

attaching a section of duct to a rafter with a strap while standing on a plywood floor. Having completed this attachment, he stepped from the plywood floor to a section of suspended ceiling and fell 9 ft to the floor. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage due to a skull fracture and died.

Accident 18

• While waiting for a lift truck operator to lift insulation to the third floor of a building, an employee was leaning on the guardrail at the third floor balcony. After leaning for approximately 40 minutes, the guardrails became unfastened and the employee fell approximately 24 feet to the ground.

Accident 19

• Demolition employees were removing a concrete stairway. They had finished chipping concrete at each stairway landing to expose the rebar so it could be cut. The employees were working on the stairway in this weakened state and it suddenly collapsed. One fatality, one serious injury and one minor injury occurred.

Accident Description: Two laborers were working on a motorized two-point suspension scaffold 70 feet above the ground without fall protection systems in use. The inside tread of a wire rope clip was stripped and caused the one end of the scaffold to be released. One employee fell to the ground, the other employee was catapulted through an open window and pulled to safety by coworkers.

Accident 20

• The deceased was working 24 feet, 8 inches above the concrete floor without any fall protection. He was involved in steel erection, installing (spot welding) a joist on the roof support of a building under construction. He fell, and received serious injuries.

Accident 21

• An employee preparing masonry facia for removal fell from the third level of a tubular welded-frame scaffold. No guarding system was provided.

Accident 22

• An employee was caulking seams at the northwest corner of a dome over a building when he fell about 9 feet through an opening where a glass panel was supposed to be. He landed on a balcony on the second level and died instantly. The employee was not wearing a safety harness.

Accident 23

• An employee and his employer were installing a glass window from a roof. An 8 ft stepladder was leaned against the wall and window casing. While the employee was climbing with the pane of glass, the unsecured ladder slipped on the roofing tile, causing the employee to fall about 10 ft to the ground.

Accident 24• An employee was installing roofing tiles

on a residential roof having a ground to eave height of 28 feet. The employee began installing asphalt mastic for the second row of tiles from the inside corner of a dormer towards the outside. Having no spotter or use of any personal fall protection, the employee walking backwards fell off the roof striking the edge of a balcony at 19 feet and landing on the concrete patio below. Employee received serious head injuries.

Accident 25

• An employee was standing on the edge of low sloped roof of a newly framed three-story building. The employee was holding a large piece of particle board when the wind blew him off balance and he fell 28 feet to the ground below.

Accident Description: An employee was operating an aerial lift with an extendable boom rotating aerial platform. The boom was fully extended when it ran over some bricks causing the boom to flex. The employee was thrown from the basket. The employee died from severe head and chest injuries.

Please visit the OSHA website, www.osha.gov, for

other accident investigations.

The information can be found under “Statistics and

Inspection Data” in the Reading Room

orsearch for “Fatal Facts.”

OSHA - Region IV