104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14387120

WATER TOWER,LIFELINE,SNAPHOOK ROLLOUT,SAFETY BELT,LANYARD,FALL,PAINTER

Event
WATER TOWER,LIFELINE,SNAPHOOK ROLLOUT,SAFETY BELT,LANYARD,FALL,PAINTER
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14387120
Report ID
524200

Event description

FALL FROM WATER TOWER

Investigation abstract

ON NOVEMBER 29, 1984, AT APPROXIMATELY 3 PM, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS WORKING ON A LARGE WATER TOWER (STANDPIPE). HE FELL TO HIS DEATH WHEN THE LANYARD WHICH SECURED HIS SAFETY BELT TO A LIFELINE "ROLLED OFF" THE ROPE-GRAB CONNECTING DEVICE. THE PAI NTER WAS USING A DBI INDUSTRIES LANYARD WITH SINGLE- ACTION SAFETY SNAP HOOKS WH ICH WERE SECURED TO BOTH ENDS OF A 36 INCH NYLON ROPE. THE OPENING IN THE EYELET ON THE ROPE-GRAB DEVICE WAS LARGE ENOUGH, AND THE RING THIN ENOUGH, TO ALLOW TH E SINGLE ACTION SNAP-HOOK TO OPEN AND DISENGAGE, ALLOWING THE EMPLOYEE TO FALL.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 25 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    5
    Source
    8
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    12
    Environmental factor
    13
    Task assigned
    1

Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.