Inspection Detail

Inspection: 311679161 - Just Siding Company

Inspection Information - Office: Charleston

Investigation Summary

On May 30, 2008, Employee #1 and Employee #2, the owner of a siding company, were approximately 35-ft high on a pump jack scaffold installing new aluminum siding on a three-story house. The scaffold did not have any guard rails and Employee #1 and Employee #2 were not protected by any personal fall protection system. At approximately 9:30 am, a second employee attempted to gain access to the scaffold from a scaffold board that extended from the garage roof to the end of the scaffold. Before the other employee reached the scaffold, the end post holding up the scaffold broke just below the pump jack causing the end of the scaffold to collapse to the wooden deck below. Both Employee #1 and Employee #2 fell to the deck below. Employee #1 apparently struck a deck railing and survived for several minutes but could not be revived when medical help arrived on the scene. Employee #2, the owner, sustained cuts and bruises and was hospitalized. The second employee was not injured in the accident.

Keywords:guardrail, collapse, struck against, construction, equipment failure, laceration, fall, fall protection, unguarded, scaffold