Abstract: Employees #1 and #2 and a coworker, working from a two-point suspension scaffold, were ascending a water tower to begin painting when one of the two scaffold wire ropes broke. When the wire rope broke, one end of the scaffold dropped and the three employees, all equipped with fall protection, fell out of the scaffold. Employee #1's fall protection failed and he fell approximately 64 feet to the ground. The falls of Employee #2 and the coworker were stopped by their fall protection. Employee #1 was transported by helicopter to the hospital where he died later that night. Employee #2 was injured when he swung into the water tower leg and he was hospitalized with his injuries.