Inspection Detail

Inspection: 309676096 - Atlantic Welders Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation Division Of Labor And Industry Maryland Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

On April 11, 2006, Employee #1 and three coworkers formed a crew conducting burning and welding operations on the steel beams and bar joists for the first floor of a future bank building. Employee #1 was assigned to weld down the bar joists at the northeast corner of the first floor deck. He was wearing a safety harness, and he tied off when he reached his first work area. When he finished at that location, he unhooked the safety harness and walked approximately 15 feet on the steel joists and the top of a concrete wall towards his next work location. He was to work on the last five bar joists. He was almost at his next work area, when something caused him to lose his balance. He was not tied off to anything. He fell into the future stairway opening; he was able to grab onto a steel joist, but he could not hold on and fell the rest of the way down to the concrete floor. He slid down along the side of the concrete wall before landing on his left arm and shoulder on the concrete floor. He fell 12.5 feet. Employee #1 fractured his left wrist and had a sore left shoulder. He was taken to a shock trauma center. He was hospitalized, and he was released the next day. The workers were under the impression that they were allowed to be unhooked when they were moving from one point to another if they were working at 12 feet or below. The company had nothing set up to provide the employees the opportunity to be 100 percent tied off at all times.

Keywords: BEAM, FRACTURE, SHOULDER, PPE, WORK RULES, CONSTRUCTION, FALL, FALL PROTECTION, LOST BALANCE, WRIST