Inspection Detail

Inspection: 301473971 - Nicolson Const Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Utah Division Of Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

On May 23, 2003, Stucco employees had been performing wall preparation activities, working from a tube and coupler scaffold. The scaffold had been set up by another contractor who specialized in scaffold rental services. While the scaffold was being set up several days prior to the accident, masonry company management officials found deficiencies on more than one occasion on the scaffold and directed the scaffold company to correct the problems. The last calls to the scaffold company took place four days prior to the accident. Not all of the problem areas had been addressed and abated by the day of the accident. The scaffold company had yellow tagged the scaffold at all entry points, indicating that the scaffold was not OSHA compliant and that fall protection was required. However, not all of the masonry employees spoke or could read the English language. On the day of the accident, the masonry company foreman directed employees to perform work from the scaffold during the first shift. The foreman then subsequently left the job site. An employee assigned to protect windows by installing plastic sheeting over the openings was working on the third level of the scaffold. The deck height was 19 feet, 11 inches from the ground. The scaffold was placed 21.5 inches out from the wall. No personal fall protection systems were being worn by any of the masonry employees working from the scaffold. There was also no guardrail installed on the building-wall side of the scaffold structure. An overhang problem with the scaffold plank nearest the wall existed and was hidden from view on the third level of the scaffold, but might have been visible from the second level while looking up at the third level planking. Four planks had been used to deck the scaffold from edge to edge, three 9-foot long planks from the outside of the scaffold inward, and one shorter plank nearest the building wall. The plank nearest the wall was 8 feet in length and had to span the scaffold frames that were set 7 feet, 2 inches apart. That left 10 inches of plank to overlap both sides of scaffold support frames. From the evidence at the accident scene, it appears that the plank had been properly overlapped on the west side support frame, but had marginal overlap on the east side support frame. No cleating, wire ties, or screws had been used to secure the plank. However, one nail had been driven down through a plank sitting on top of the east side of the 8-foot plank and was routed down through the shorter plank to hold it in place. At some point while performing window sheeting operations, Employee #1 probably leaned over to the building window, while standing on the inside of the short scaffold decking plank. The plank broke lose from the securing nail and the scaffold with Employee #1 standing on it fell to the ground and landed in a shallow ditch adjacent to the scaffold. Employee #1 died at the hospital later in the day.

Keywords: WINDOW WASHER, UNSECURED, FALL, SCAFFOLD