Inspection Detail

Inspection: 311703524 - Concrete Enterprises Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Or Safety 2-Salem

Investigation Summary

At approximately 9:00 a.m. on February 7, 2008, Employee #1 was on a scaffold, stripping forms from a concrete column on a bridge. He took the 4 ft by 8 ft sheet of plywood from the column and passed it to a coworker. As Employee #1 let go of the plywood, the cantilever scaffold support on which he was standing broke loose from the concrete beam and he fell approximately 8 ft to the next level. He teetered there for several seconds, fell backward off that platform, struck his left shoulder on a beam at a lower level, and then plunged into the river. He fell approximately 35 ft overall and, once in the river, was submerged by the fast-flowing current. Employee #1 was rescued approximately 15 minutes later. He suffered fractures to his back and neck, a punctured lung, and hypothermia.

Keywords:concrete form work, fracture, dismantling, work rules, construction, equipment failure, back, river, fall, fall protection