24 Foot Fall from Roof
A 39-year-old male employee was fatally injured when he fell approximately 24 feet to the sidewalk below. On the day of the incident the victim, an Iron Worker, was installing metal roof panels on a pre-fabricated metal building.
The victim was working west to east on the northeast corner of the roof installing screws through the roof panels and into the purlins. He took a step backwards and fell off the northeast corner of the roof.
During the investigation it was determined employees were trained to wear harnesses and be tied-off 100% of the time when working at 15 feet and above. But there were no anchor points for a safety line on which to connect a safety harness on the site, nor was there any other forms of fall prevention, for example rails, nets, etc.
According to the foreman on site, the victim had worn his safety harness early in the day, but in the afternoon left his safety harness in his truck.
Investigators cited the company for not protecting workers from fall hazards using guardrail systems, safety net systems, personal fall arrest systems, positioning device systems or fall restraint systems.
