Abstract: On the morning of August 14, 1995, Employee #1 was framing a residential house. He was setting a truss over a foyer that contained an approximately 5 ft by 11 ft. open stairwell. Employee #1 was 20 ft above the foyer level and 31 ft over the basement floor through the stairwell hole. He walked on the truss, which had been secured at each end and braced with a 2 by 20. As Employee #1 was disconnecting the truss from the crane boom, the brace failed and Employee #1 and the truss fell 31 ft to the basement, possibly after hitting the stairwell on the way down. He sustained massive head injuries and died on August 16, 1995. The only safety equipment in use was a guardrail around the stairwell, which was destroyed when the truss hit it. Causal factors included inadequate truss bracing and an open floor hole in a location where overhead work was performed.