Abstract: At 9:30 a.m. on January 13, 1999, Employee #1, a construction foreman employed by Fairway Outdoor Advertising, suffered a fractured right tibia and ankle bone. Employee #1 was working off an extension ladder, and had just attached the first of six prefabricated steel towers to the first of six wood columns on a large 14-foot by 48-inch outdoor sign. The tower was held in place by a mobile boom truck while Employee #1 drilled and installed threaded rods and bolts. The task complete, the boom truck operator let slack in the line so Employee #1 could release the sling. As Employee #1 climbed the ladder to release the sling, the wood column broke about three feet under the ground. This caused the structure to sway back and forth. Thinking that the structure was going to fall on him, Employee #1 jumped from a height of about 15 feet. His right foot landed on the edge of a piece of wood causing the injury. The boom truck operator saw what was happening and quickly took up the slack in the line which prevented the structure from falling. Company employees carried the injured Employee #1 to a clear area. Paramedics transported the injured Employee #1 to Riverside Community Hospital where he was admitted and hospitalized for four days. He was transferred to the Eisenhower Memorial Hospital in Indio for three days. At the time of this report, the injured Employee #1 remains off work under medical care with no estimated return-to-work date.