Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1492595.015 - Digital Path Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Redding District Office

Investigation Summary

At 4:15 p.m. on August 31, 2020, an employee was working for an internet service provider. He installed and repaired equipment. In this incident, he was working as a field technician. He was working on radio relay receivers and transmitters located above the top of a silo. To access the equipment, the employee had climbed up a set of stairs on a fixed ladder with a cage. The ladder and cage were over 35 feet (10.7 meters) tall. The employee was working at an elevation. He was walking toward a taller relay device to adjust it manually. The employee needed to cross the ladder opening in order to reach a platform to get to the relay. The relay was on the left side of the ladder opening, and the employee was on the right side of the opening. The employee was looking at his cellphone, and he walked into the ladder opening and fell. The employee fell onto a catwalk below the fixed ladder that he had ascended to reach the platform. He suffered a full-thickness laceration to his left inner upper arm, and lacerations near his left wrist and the right side of his chin. He was hospitalized. Drugs were found at the area where the employee stayed after he descended the silo stairs while waiting for emergency services.

Keywords: Antenna, Arm, Cage, Catwalk, Communication Tower, Construction, Electronic Technicn, Elevated Work Platform, Emergency Response, Face, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Fixed Ladder, Inattention, Jaw, Laceration, Service Technician, Silo, Technician, Telecom Work, Work at Elevation, Wrist