Inspection Detail

Inspection: 126160191 - A V Painting

Inspection Information - Office: Los Angeles District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 6:30 p.m. on March 13, 2007, Employee #1 was working as a painter for A.V. Painting, a contractor that offers painting services for commercial and residential properties. Employee #1 had been working for the firm on and off on various projects since 2003. He was at a new single family residence project in Manhattan Beach, CA. He and a coworker, also a painter, had been working from a ladder for two consecutive days before the day of the accident, staining ceiling beams in a two-story single family residence. It was on the third day that the accident occurred. Their employer had pulled Employee #1's coworker to another jobsite just before the accident, and Employee #1 was working alone. He was on a makeshift wooden portable ladder, horizontally positioned as a platform on the permanent rails of a walkway on the second floor, approximately 14 feet, 10 inches above ground level. Suddenly, the ladder he was working from broke, and he fell, sustaining fractures to his left shoulder and to ribs on his right side. He called his employer with his cell phone, and the employer called Employee #1's son. The son responded to the accident site and called emergency medical services. Employee #1 was transported to Harbor UCLA Hospital in Torrance, CA, via ambulance, arriving at about 7:00 p.m. He was hospitalized, and he was discharged on March 18, 2007.

Keywords: FRACTURE, SHOULDER, CEILING, LADDER, CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT FAILURE, RIB, FALL, ELEVATED WORK PLAT, PAINTER