Case Reports from OSHA files
- A 27-year-old cement finisher and a co-worker were dismantling suspended scaffolding at the 160-foot level inside a 172-foot-high, circular concrete
silo. Both men were wearing safety belts with nylon rope lanyards secured to independent lifelines. The accident occurred when the victim lost his
balance and fell off an unguarded end of the scaffold. The co-worker stated that he saw the victim fall and jerk upward as the lanyard caught him. When
the victim's weight dropped back on the lanyard, it snapped, allowing him to fall to his death on a concrete floor. Examination of the lanyard after the event showed burn damage at several
places, including the point of failure. The employer did not control inspection or distribution of this fall protection equipment. Instead, the
equipment was kept in a common supply bin where the workers could readily obtain it when needed and return it when work was completed. The lanyard had
been returned to the storage bin even though it had probably been damaged earlier during cutting and welding operations.
- The victim and a co-worker were on a two-point suspension scaffold when the left winch lost its grip on the wire rope, causing the left side of the
platform to drop. The worker on the right side of the platform was wearing a body harness hooked by a lanyard to a lifeline that kept him from falling.
The victim was on the left side of the platform and was wearing the same equipment, but he apparently did not have the lanyard hooked to his
lifeline. He fell eleven floors and was killed.
- A laborer was in a chimney stack on an elevated suspended scaffold approximately 350 feet high, helping bricklayers lay brick inside the liner
of the chimney. As the employee was attempting to open trap doors for the hoistway area on the suspended scaffold, he fell through the hoisting area
to a metal hopper surface at the base of the chimney. He was killed. The victim was not wearing fall protection while on the scaffold, or while
attempting to open the hoistway doors on the scaffold. The hoistway area was not guarded.
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