Abstract: At approximately 1:00 p.m. on February 10, 2003, Employee #1, a laborer/plastering apprentice, and several other employees were applying mud to some joints, sanding and finishing them off. These molding joints were around windows on the second level. Employee #1 set up a 4-foot high A-frame scaffold with two planks on a permanent metal grate installed at the second floor level, in between the wall of the building and a concrete walkway. The third level of the building was street level. There was a temporary guardrail around the walkway and stairs on the second level. Over the grate, there was a gap between the walkway and the outer wall of the building. However, the height of the A-frame scaffold on the grate put the platform above the guardrail. Employee #1 fell 18 feet to the concrete sidewalk. No witnesses observed the fall, but it appeared that he reached out to apply plaster to a molding seam and fell. Employee #1 was transported to Sharp Memorial Hospital in critical condition with head trauma, a punctured lung and damaged kidney.