Inspection Detail

Inspection: 120269550 - C And J Development Co

Inspection Information - Office: San Diego District Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 12:20 p.m. on June 5, 2000, Employee #1 and two coworkers were working inside a 6,000 sq ft residence. Employee #1 was installing the metal corner strips on the first floor while the two coworkers were applying drywall from a rolling scaffold. As the two coworkers were going to buy lunch, they noticed Employee #1 lying on the concrete floor next to a rolling scaffold, with his eyes closed and emitting what they thought was a snoring noise. He was still lying there when they returned but, thinking he was asleep, they went upstairs, ate, and resumed work. At the end of the day they tried to wake up Employee #1 to put away his tools, only to discover that his eyelids were black. One coworker immediately drove to the main gate and told the guard to call 911. Apparently, Employee #1, who had been using a two-level, partially planked rolling scaffold to install a corner bead by the stairway, had taken a step backward to view his work and had fallen through a 1 1/2 ft gap in the rear of the platform planking. He fell through the platform and struck against the side brace of the scaffold, breaking it, before landing, face-up, on the concrete floor. Employee #1 was transported by ambulance to Sharp Hospital, where he died on June 8, 2000, after his family elected to remove him from life support. There were no witnesses to the accident. The main causal factor was the employer's failure to prevent him from using a rolling scaffold that had missing platform sections and missing guardrails. The employer was cited for serious accident-related violations of T8CCR 1646(e) and T8CCR 1646(b)(1).

Keywords: HEAD, GUARDRAIL, MOBILE SCAFFOLD, WORK RULES, CONSTRUCTION, FALL, FALL PROTECTION, WALKING BACKWARD, ELEVATED WORK PLAT, WORK SURFACE