Case Report from OSHA files
- A 33-year-old male caulking mechanic was killed while sharing a two-point suspension scaffold that had already been rigged by workers from a window
washing firm. Although he had brought safety belts and lifelines to the site, this equipment had been left in the company truck. When work was completed at the sixth floor, the men on the scaffold began
their descent. Suddenly, the victim's end of the scaffold dropped to a vertical position, and the victim fell from the scaffold to the ground 60 feet
below. The second man on the scaffold (the window washer) managed to cling to the scaffold and a nearby window ledge until he could be rescued.
Inspection of the scaffold hoist revealed a defect in a centrifugal safety brake. This defect and the victim's possible failure to release the parking
brake before beginning his descent caused one end of the scaffold to drop.
- Three workers were on a two-point suspension scaffold rated at 500 lbs. working weight. As the employees went up in the scaffold, the right side
fell to the ground from an elevation of 20 feet. One worker managed to hold on, the other two fell with the scaffold, resulting in one worker dying and the
other being hospitalized for extensive injuries. Investigation indicated that the scaffold motor assembly was improperly connected to the scaffold
platform. The workers were wearing the available safety harnesses and lifelines but had not connected the lifelines.
- Two employees, the leadman and a trainee mechanic, were assigned to move a two-point suspended scaffold equipped with two SC40 hoists. They lowered the
scaffold from the top roof some 16 feet to a small intermediate roof. The plan was to lower the scaffold an additional 20 feet to the main roof. After
approximately two feet, the right-side hoist unit stopped. The employees thought that the overspeed brake had accidentally set. The leadman--the
competent person on site--got out of the scaffold onto the roof and worked with the trainee to manually override and release the overspeed brake. This
was done without inspecting the hoist for sufficient cable length. The right side hoist had only been set up with enough cable to go from the upper roof
to the intermediate roof, a total of 16 feet (the total cable length measured 18 feet 5½ inches). When the brake was released, the three inches of
cable left on the drum ran out and the hoist fell, causing the right side of the scaffold to drop. The trainee fell 18 feet, landed on a stored scaffold
pick, and was lucky to sustain only a chipped ankle bone and a bruised calf. The company did not conduct a fall protection or competent person
inspection, nor was a safety line or any fall protection used. The hoist worked as designed, but the wire rope safety device was manually overridden.
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