The two men looked as though they were suited up, but they weren’t.
As they climbed into the platform both a foreman and a laborer wore regulation full body harnesses and lanyards. But the supervisor neglected to clip his lanyard to the manufacturer-provided and -approved attachment point. The laborer tied off to the railing around the handrail at the perimeter of the basket, but not to an approved attachment point…
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In preparation for lifting an HVAC unit to the top of a school building, the victim and an assistant attempted to put the telescoping boom of a crane into the hoisting mode. When the boom failed to move, the victim called the office for. The company notified an electrician and told the victim and helper to wait.
The helper dismounted and was walking away from the crane when he heard the victim shout. While attempting to climb down from the deck of the crane, the victim apparently stumbled and fell 5 feet, head first, to the pavement.
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The accident: A construction crew working on a rooftop demolition project was making chainsaw cuts to the roof’s planking to ease removal. One of the workers moved to close to an opening, and fell 26 feet to a waste heap below.
The accident: Three construction workers in a scissor lift were shoveling dirt and gravel from a planter box mounted to the exterior wall of a parking deck, in an attempt to make the box lighter prior to removal. When the workers tried to pull the box from the wall, the box struck the lift, knocking it over. One of the workers fell 20 feet to the ground below.
The accident: A 42-year-old ironworker foreman was working on a structural steel beam roof. After a crane lifted a beam into position, the foreman noticed it needed adjusting, and set out to use a hammer to straighten it. The area where he needed to work had been barricaded with wire rope safety lines on all four sides, but he removed these lines to gain access to the beam. He was not using fall protection.
The accident: A bridge repair company was performing work on an interstate highway bridge. A barrier wall had been removed and four inches of the concrete pavement had been chipped from the bridge deck…
The accident: A worker was replacing structural steel members on a 280-foot-tall communications tower. Suspended 60 feet in the air, he was preparing to lower himself into position using a controlled descent system. According to a fellow crew member, the worker suddenly dropped to the ground.
The accident: An employee was climbing a 10-foot ladder to access a landing that was 9 feet above the adjacent floor. The ladder slid down, and the employee fell to the floor, sustaining fatal injuries.
The accident: A 51-year-old man was transferring a boom lift from one flatbed truck to another. Ignoring a suggestion that he back the two flatbed trucks end to end and drive the lift across from one truck bed to the other…
The accident: A crew was working in a cement plant that was under construction. A worker climbed on a balcony approximately 50 feet above the ground to retrieve a tank that had been placed on the balcony, and fell through a 48-inch-diameter opening for an air duct installation.
The accident: A construction crew was removing screws from metal sheets on the roof of a building scheduled to be dismantled. A portion of the roof gave way, causing a worker standing on that section to fall through to ground level and hit his head on the concrete floor.
The accident: A welder was preparing to survey and weld joints at the top of a steel frame that had just been erected. Using a scissor lift platform to access the work area, he extended the lift approximately 12 feet.
