Abstract: At 4:00 p.m. on December 3, 1996, Employee #1 was helping a coworker who had been assigned by the chief engineer to place the lighted Christmas tree on the roof of the sixth floor of a tiered building. They accessed the roof area from an open balcony on the sixth floor and put up the tree. Employee #1, who was working within 12 in. of the roof edge, had finished attaching the tree to a ground screw when he lost his balance and fell 20 ft to the floor balcony area of the building. He sustained a fractured hip and femur, and multiple facial fractures. Employee #1 and his coworker had not been wearing safety belts/harnesses or lanyards, and there was no guardrail around the flat roof area. Employee #1 worked for a housing management company that employed four maintenance workers at this location.