Abstract: At approximately 3:30 p.m., the end of the work day on Saturday, April 23, 1994, Employee #1, a bridge painter, was standing at the edge of an open-sided floor approximately 35 ft above the ground on the Manhattan side of the 59th Street Bridge. The employee was tying manila rope to each side of a paint spray pump, so it could be hoisted to the level above. He finished tying the ropes and the men above started to hoist when one of the handles on the paint spray pump broke, allowing the machine to jerk. At that moment, Employee #1, who was not using any fall protection, fell approximately 35 feet to the gravel. He was rushed to New York Hospital with several broken bones. His condition is improving. There were two eyewitnesses: a painter and the foreman.