Abstract: Employee #1, a steel worker, was placing deck sheets within a controlled decking zone with another employee. In this zone, there was an unguarded elevator shaft opening with a total depth of 36 feet to the shaft bottom. The decking zone also contained vent pipes coming from the floor level below the zone. The steel workers were sliding the sheets in place until they encountered a vent pipe. Sliding the deck sheets was not possible with such an obstruction, so they changed the process. They cut a hole in the sheet and lifted it from both ends to fit over the vent pipe. Upon arriving at the edge of the elevator shaft, Employee #1 and the other employee slid one sheet in place and moved another one to place it as the leading edge. A vent pipe on the end away from the shaft had to be dealt with so the employees lifted the sheet rather than sliding it. While the sheet was in the air, Employee #1, who was holding the end next to the shaft, stepped into the shaft opening. He fell 36 feet to the bottom of the shaft and was killed. The elevator shaft was not guarded, and the employees had no fall protection in place.