UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

At 10:30 a.m. on November 21, 2021, an employee was taking down a party tent and party decorations which had been previously installed in the parking lot of the establishment for a party. The employee was using an A-frame ladder, approxima tely 8 feet in height, to remove decorations from the ceiling of the tent before dismantling the tent. The incident occurred when the employee was standing on the top cap of an 8-foot A-frame ladder, unclipping the decorations from the ten t ceiling. The party tent at its highest point stood approximately 17 feet high with the decorations hanging approximately 3-4 feet lower than that. The employe e was standing on the top cap for one minute or less when the employee fell from the top cap to the asphalt surface below, striking his head and neck. The emp loyee suffered blunt force trauma to the head and spine as a result of the fall from the ladder onto an asphalt surface. He suffered a cervical #6 vertebral fr acture and became partial quadriplegia due to his spinal cord injury. The employ ee had a tear of the dura membrane around his spinal cord with a persistent leak of cerebrospinal fluid. The employee remained dependent on a ventilator and was transferred to Kaiser Hospital in Modesto, where he suffered a cardiac arrest o n December 11, 2021, however was resuscitated. The employee then went into respi ratory decline on December 19, 2011, which ended in respiratory failure and deat h on December 21, 2021. A coworker was a witness to the incident and was holdi ng the ladder at that time. Another coworker (day labor hired from Home Depot) w as also present during the incident and was also holding the ladder. Neither cow orker was injured in the incident. CalOSHA identified several causal factors i ncluding but not limited to: - The employee was standing on the top cap of an A -Frame Ladder. - The employee was not properly trained in using ladders.