Inspection Detail

Inspection: 309300242 - Paramount Scaffold, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Santa Ana District Office

Investigation Summary

On January 3, 2008, Employee #1, a carpenter, and his coworkers were dismantling a 21-stage scaffold. They had created slot openings at each level of the scaffolds to pass down the 12-ft wooden planks from the upper levels to the ground. Every other level of the scaffolds was manned by a worker, and they were handing down planks through the slot openings of the scaffold platforms. Employee #1 was at the eleventh level of the scaffold, which was roughly aligned with the eighth floor of this 14-story apartment building. Above him, his coworkers were positioned at the thirteenth level, at the fifteenth level, at seventeenth level and at the nineteenth level. As they were passing down the planks, the coworker at the seventeenth level let go of a plank before it was secured by the coworker below him. This plank fell through the slots on the lower platforms and hit Employee #1 in the head, breaking his hard hat and knocking him down. He fell backwards into an open window at the eighth level of the building, hitting his head on the metal frame of the window, rendering him unconscious. Employee #1 suffered a serious head injury, which required surgery and 14 days of hospitalization.

Keywords: HEAD, UNCONSCIOUSNESS, CARPENTER, CONSTRUCTION, PLANK, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, SCAFFOLD