Inspection Detail

Inspection: 122197932 - Bayshore Builders, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Peoria Area Office

Investigation Summary

On November 3, 1998, Employee #1, a carpenter, and two coworkers were on the second day of framing the second floor of a single-family residence that had been under construction since October 20. They had spent the morning constructing the walls, which they did by laying out the wall on the floor, nailing the frame together, nailing the sheathing in place, then tipping up the fully constructed wall and nailing the unit into place. Before lunch, they had nailed together the west wall frame. After a break, they finished putting the exterior sheathing on the wall, which was still lying on the floor. The coworkers went on to begin laying out the next wall while Employee #1 used a circular saw to cut the window opening from the sheathing. Apparently, he did not quite complete the cuts to the corners of the window opening, and jumped on the sheathing to pop out the window space. The opening was directly over the second and first floor stairway shafts, which were on top of one another. When Employee #1 landed on the sheathing, the window opening popped out, and he fell 18 ft 6 in. through both stair openings to the concrete basement floor. He died of severe head trauma sustained in the fall. Employee #1 could not see the stair openings under the wall.

Keywords: HEAD, COVER, UNGUARDED FL OPENING, CARPENTER, WORK RULES, CONSTRUCTION, STAIR LANDING, FALL, FLOOR OPENING, INATTENTION