Inspection Detail

Inspection: 310488515 - Walldesign Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At 3:00 p.m. on August 8, 2007, Employee #1, a general laborer for a large construction contractor, was on a scaffold installing a plastic sheet scaffold cover on the exterior of a 178 ft long by 37 ft tall metal tube. He was on the top scaffold level completing the enclosure installation when the scaffold began to tip away from the building. Employee #1 fell approximately 37 ft onto an asphalt parking lot. He sustained a fractured pelvis, fractured ribs, right sacral fractures, fractures to his cervical spine, and contusions to his right lung, spleen, and liver. He was transported to Huntington Hospital, where he was admitted for surgery. The scaffold was not used in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations, and it was not anchored and braced to prevent collapse. The employer was cited for an accident-related violation, serious, of T8CCR 1637(c), for failure to anchor and brace a scaffold to prevent it from collapsing; and a violation, serious, of T8CCR 1637(b)(4), for not using a scaffold in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations and for not utilizing good engineering practices in scaffold erection.

Keywords: FRACTURE, SPINE, UNSECURED, WORK RULES, CONSTRUCTION, LIVER, SCAFFOLD COLLAPSE, FALL, BRACING, SCAFFOLD