Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1431357.015 - Ray Tech Professional Painting, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Foster City District Office

Investigation Summary

At 12:50 p.m. on September 10, 2019, an employee was performing his normally assigned task in painting the exterior of a house. The site is a new housing development consisting of blocks lined with 2-3 story townhomes. The townhomes being painted by the employee were two stories tall. The employee finished painting a balcony and fell while the ladder he was descending slipped. The base of the balcony measured 10 feet in height. The ladder presented to the Division that was used by the employee was part of an extension ladder. An extension ladder is built with two main parts, the fly section and the base section. The fly section slides up and down the base section for height adjustment. The ladder used by the employee was only the fly section. The ladder had been taken apart. The fly section on the ladder does not contain safety shoes which stabilizes the ladder and helps the ladder from slipping. From the General Contractor photos of the accident, the ground beneath the balcony being painted contained cardboard to cover the cement path and tanbark landscaping on the perimeter of the pathway. This area is where the ladder base would have been placed. While the employee was descending the ladder, the ladder slipped beneath him causing him to fall off, hitting his head on the concrete pavement below. The employee used a defective ladder. The employee was hospitalized.

Keywords: Concrete Floor, Defective Equipment, Descending Ladder, Extension Ladder, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Head, Painter, Residential Construction, Slip