Inspection Detail

Inspection: 315775536 - Omni Sheet Metal Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Foster City District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 10:33 a.m. on February 28, 2013, an employee was assigned to do flashing work on a sloped roof where he was not required to wear fall protection by his employer as long he remained six feet away from the leading edge of the roof. Somehow, the employee exposed to the roof-edge and fell off the roof, where he first hit his body on a metal top rail of a scaffold, about eight feet below the roof edge, then bounced another 16 feet down to the ground. The employee stated that there was no guardrail or warning sign on the roof to stop him going towards the leading edge. The employee stated that he did not remember exactly what happened on the roof that led to his fall. However, the witnesses stated that the employee was about eight feet away from the leading roof edge, possibly looking for an anchorage where he could tie off but at that time he was not wearing a body harness or any other similar fall protective equipment. A coworker stated that he had witnessed the employee falling off the roof but did not know what he was doing at that time because his view was partially blocked by a building structure. The coworker stated that he was not very far from the employee. The coworker stated neither he nor the employee was wearing any fall protection at that time. Also there was no guardrail and/or warning sign near the roof-edge to prevent falls from the roof. The supervisor stated that he was also working on the same roof with two other coworker but they were about 20 feet away from the leading roof edge. Foreman and his Superintendent also stated that employees were not required to wear fall protection at that time because the roof pitch was only 3:12 and a rule of "stay six feet away from the falling edge" was applied. Employer also admitted that there was no guardrail and/or a warning sign placed on the leading edge of the roof to prevent employees from falling off the roof. Somehow, the employee was exposed to the roof-edge and fell off the roof, where he first hit his body on a metal top-rail of a scaffold, about eight feet below the roof edge, then bounced another 16 feet down to the ground. As a result of the fall, the employee sustained multiple serious injuries and was hospitalized for approximately three days at Stanford Hospital.

Keywords: EYE, ROOF, LACERATION, FALL, FALL PROTECTION, WORK SURFACE