Inspection Detail

Inspection: 119513216 - Shane Construction

Inspection Information - Office: Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation Division Of Labor And Industry Maryland Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

On July 14, 1992, Employee #1, who was a carpentry foreman with a general contractor, and eight or nine employees of a masonry contractor, including Employees #2 and #3, who were masons, were working on a tubular welded frame scaffold that had been erected on the east side of Martins Food Store. The employees were laying block and setting bearing plates for bar joists. The portion of the scaffold that was in use was nine to eleven frames long and four frames high. Employees #1 through #3 were working from the side bracket platform, which was raised 19 1/2 ft above the ground to the top of the third scaffold frame. Employees at the south end of the scaffold needed shorter brackets to raise the platform. Shorter brackets were found and used to replace the longer ones. Shortly after the employees returned to work on the platform, a short bracket at the second end frame from the south end of the platform failed, causing a 21 ft long section of the platform. The bracket supported two 8 ft long planks and two 16 ft long planks that spanned three scaffold frames. Employees #1 through #3 fell and a fourth mason at the north end of this section of platform almost fell. Employees #1 through #3 were hospitalized with fractures, contusions, and internal bleeding.

Keywords: FRACTURE, CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT FAILURE, FALL, CONTUSION, SCAFFOLD, TUBULAR SCAFFOLD