Picture This! A New Version of Walking the Plank
Not watching where one is walking is a common problem, as workers try to multitask by texting, reading or filling out paperwork while moving from one area of a worksite to another.
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Not watching where one is walking is a common problem, as workers try to multitask by texting, reading or filling out paperwork while moving from one area of a worksite to another.
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WHAT’S AT STAKE
Hoisting and lowering objects from one level to another is an everyday task for many operations. But this task is common in another way: It’s a common cause of serious injury and death in the workplace.
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A volunteer died of head and chest injuries when he fell 18 feet to a concrete floor while helping repair a community sports facility.
Read MoreA supervisor at a company in Cornwall, ON, has been fined $6,000 for disturbing a workplace accident scene after a worker was badly hurt in a 28-foot (8.5 -meter) fall.
On Aug. 22, 2008, five workers were removing corrugated metal decking and insulation from a storage building roof at a former paper mill when one of the workers stepped through an area from which metal decking had been removed and fell to the ground.
Read MoreA 24-year-old tree service worker died when the oak tree he was trimming near its top suddenly snapped at the base, throwing him to the ground and landing on him.
Luke Stetson of East Windsor, CT, was wearing a safety harness attached to the tree and had just finished cutting a branch when the tree broke. While the oak looked healthy from the outside, the inside was badly rotted and could not sustain Stetson’s weight.
Read MoreA 34-year-old married father of three young children died in Littleton, CO, after the articulated boom he was working from snapped, causing him to fall about 30 feet (9.1 meters).
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating the death of Adam Mackintosh, who operated his own company, Adam’s Tree Service.
He is survived by wife Melanie, a two-year-old son, Adison and one-year-old twins Claire and Sophia. A trust fund has been set up to help the children.
Mackintosh loved the outdoors, especially camping, fishing, sailing and spending time in his back yard with family and friends. He also enjoyed playing music and making people laugh.
Read MoreA construction company director in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, has been fined $17,000 after exposing workers to obvious risks despite warnings from WorkSafe Victoria.
A Sunshine Magistrates’ Court judge found that Ascoli Developments Pty. Ltd and director David Gurvich failed to comply with five legal notices, including two requiring work to stop immediately because of immediate danger to workers.
Workers were exposed to electrocution hazards and fall hazards.
WorkSafe Victoria officials later visited another Ascoli construction site and found similar safety breaches, leading to further charges. Ascoli has been fined $96,500.
Gurvich and Ascoli Developments Pty. Ltd were both convicted of failure to comply with prohibition notices, failure to comply with improvement notices, failure to provide safe plant and systems of work and failure to provide adequate facilities for welfare. Ascoli was additionally convicted of two charges of failure to provide information, instruction, training and supervision to workers.
Read MoreA roofing contractor in Pennsylvania has been sentenced to three years’ probation and six months’ house arrest for a willful safety violation that resulted in the death of one of his workers.
A 29-year-old roofer plunged 40 feet (12 meters) to his death while working on a steep roof in August 2009. Investigators determined that roofing contractor Christopher Franc, 44, owner of C.A. Franc Construction in Valencia, PA, had failed to provide any fall protection equipment to his workers.
Because of the height and steep angle of the roof, Franc should have ensured that his workers were wearing full body harnesses anchored to fixed points. Investigators also determined that Franc had not provided adequate training to new employees.
Chief United States District Judge Gary L. Lancaster also ordered Franc to pay the victim’s funeral expenses. The roofing contractor has also been fined $539,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Read MoreA 31-year-old worker who was standing on a five-gallon bucket while trying to sand a portion of a ceiling beyond his reach died after the bucket slipped out from under him.
Jimy Henry Tovar of Ackworth, GA, died in hospital after falling headfirst 30 feet (nine meters) to the ground below from the third floor of the building.
Tovar had been working at an apartment building under construction in Chattanooga, TN.
While the fatality remains under investigation, this fatality shows how dangerous it can be to use an unapproved object such as an inverted bucket as a ladder.
Info to go: Read more about ladder safety by clicking on the Info to Go safety links at www.SafeSupervisor.com
Read MoreA crane operator somehow survived a 300 foot (91 meter) fall from the top of a 33-story building in China, suffering only broken bones. Two of her co-workers weren’t as fortunate.
The surviving worker, a woman who was not named, was rescued from the twisted crane cab by firefighters in Leshan, Sichuan province. It took them 30 minutes to free her.
The crane tilted while construction workers were trying to raise its height. Its cab then snapped off, plunging the operator to the ground. Of four other workers on the crane at the time, two died, while two others were able to climb down the mast to safety.
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