Inspection Detail

Inspection: 126066661 - Whittlesey Wallboard Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Los Angeles District Office

Investigation Summary

At 9:00 a.m. on May 3, 2001, an accident occurred at a three-level residential construction site in Hermosa Beach, California. Employee #1, a laborer, while using the staircase located on the west side of the building, died due to multiple injuries received from a fall through the 5-foot wide by 6-foot 10-inches high open side of the unguarded stairway landing, located 12-feet 10-inches above the asphalt street. At the time of the incident, Employee #1 was part of a three-man crew, carrying boxes containing drywall compound material to the third floor of the dwelling under construction. The employer, a drywall subcontractor, was contracted by the general contractor to complete all the interior dry wall components of a two story single family dwelling. It was found that the stairway landing was never guarded. On the day of the accident, Employee #1 along with the lead person and another coworker drove up to the construction site to deliver 66 cartons of drywall compound material and to clean up trash and debris piled up from the previous days work. As planned, Employee #1 and a coworker started out by taking the boxes of drywall compound material from the company truck using a wheelbarrow up to the first floor garage level. Meanwhile, the lead person cleared up space in a kitchen next to the staircase on the third level. Employee #1 and the coworker hand-carried two boxes of drywall compound at a time using the staircase and placed them on the kitchen floor. By approximately 9:00 a.m., Employee #1 and the coworker had made several trips up and down the staircase and had placed 20 boxes. Right after this, as Employee #1 was coming down the staircase from the third floor to the ground floor to get more boxes and following behind the lead person, Employee #1 fell out and off the exterior unguarded opening of the second floor landing, hitting the scaffolding planks outside on the exterior street below. The lead person, at the bottom of the staircase, heard the impact of his fall and climbed up the stairs to the first landing and looked outside and saw Employee #1 laying on the street below on his back. The lead person and the coworker both ran immediately out to help Employee #1 and found him profusely bleeding from his head. The lead person called the owner, informing him about the accident. The owner called the office and told them to call Emergency Medical Services and rushed to the site. Hermosa Beach Paramedics arrived at the site at 9:15 a.m. Employee #1 was given emergency treatment and then transported to the Little Company of Mary Hospital by their ambulance . The massive head injuries sustained by Employee #1 in the fall were sufficiently severe to cause death within approximately half an hour of the incident. Employee #1 was pronounced dead at the hospital at 9:30 a.m.

Keywords: HEAD, STAIR LANDING, LACERATION, FALL, CONCUSSION, UNGUARDED