Inspection Detail

Inspection: 306501396 - Viper Communication Sytems, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Nc Department Of Labor - Winston-Salem

Investigation Summary

At approximately 9:15 a.m. on November 14, 2003, an employee and a coworker of Viper Communication Systems, Inc. were climbing the southwest leg of a 250 ft communication tower. The coworker was climbing the tower first with one end of the starter rope, while the employee was following with the block, pulley. They were climbing the tower to hang the block at the top in the center of the tower and to run the rope through the block back down to the ground. Once on the ground, another coworker would tie the hoisting cable to the rope, the rope would be pulled until the cable was run through the block and back down to the ground. The other end of the cable went to the truck mounted hydraulic material hoist, operated by another coworker. While Employee #1 and the coworker were climbing the tower, they would periodically stop and rest. At approximately 140 ft, they stopped again to rest. The coworker started climbing again when the employee fell off of the tower landing on a BTS cabinet, telecommunication equipment, then onto the stone ground resulting in fatal injuries. The coworker was not injured.

Keywords: COMMUNICATION TOWER, LADDER, FALL, TOWER