UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

At 1:00 p.m. on April 16, 2001, an accident occurred at the Nordstrom - Farmers Market jobsite in Los Angeles, California. Employee #1 was an ironworker apprentice who had been on the job for about a month. Employee #1 was working with his foreman installing metal flashing at the edges of the building. The metal flashing is used to catch and hold concrete. The forms are made from 20 gauge sheet metal, are 6-feet long, and each weighs from 35 to 45 pounds. The forms would take two persons to install, one person holding each end. According to Employee #1, at the time of the accident, he and the foreman were standing on a wooden guardrail to reach the building edge. The foreman had welded his end of the form and was moving to tack weld the other end. At this moment, both of them were standing on the same guardrail. The guardrail broke, and Employee #1 saw the foreman dropped to the stair landing. Employee #1 then felt the guardrail gave way under him, and he dropped 16 feet to the floor below. The stair landing was measured as being 45 inches from the top of the guardrail. Employee #1 sustained a broken back, sprained right wrist, contused left heel and nerve damage of left leg. He was hospitalized for three weeks.