Inspection Detail

Inspection: 304412398 - Polished Edge Glass

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

Investigation Summary

On October 15, 2001, Employee #1 and an assistant were getting ready to perform annual winterizing of the evaporative cooler on the roof of the shop area of the building. The evaporative cooler was located at the center of the roof, with six skylights arranged near it. Employee #1 was on the roof and his assistant was on the ground in front of the building. Employee #1 stood up after being on his hands and knees at the edge of the roof, while he talked to his assistant on the ground. He misjudged how close he was to the skylight in the roof, while he crawled backwards from the edge of the building. He broke the skylight with his first step and fell 29 feet to the concrete floor. Employee #1 landed on his left side, with the impact causing internal bruises, two fractures on ribs six, seven, and eight, a fractured tail bone, four fractures in his pelvis, a fractured pubic bone, three fractured bones in his left hand, a dislocated wrist with fractures in two places, a fractured radius and ulna, with one compound fracture, and a fractured humorous. Employee #1 stated that he knew that the skylights were there and that they would not hold his weight if he stepped on them. When he arrived on the roof, he looked around to locate all of the skylights, but while talking to his assistant, he did not realize he was very close to the skylights. The annual winterizing of the evaporative cooler was not one of his regularly assigned tasks. He usually installed glass. He usually wore a harness and lanyard when doing that activity but did not think he would need it for this work. He did not use any personal fall protection and there was no warning line or other safety device on the building. Employee #1 was hospitalized to treat all his injuries.

Keywords: SKYLIGHT, FRACTURE, ROOF, PELVIS, RIB, FALL, FALL PROTECTION, HAND, CONTUSION, WRIST