105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14490163

FRACTURE,COMMUNICATION TOWER,COLLAPSE,WORK RULES,CONSTRUCTION,SKULL,UNSTABLE POSITION

Event
FRACTURE,COMMUNICATION TOWER,COLLAPSE,WORK RULES,CONSTRUCTION,SKULL,UNSTABLE POSITION
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14490163
Report ID
215800

Event description

EMPLOYEES INJURED WHEN TV TOWER UNDER CONSTRUCTION FELL OVER

Investigation abstract

AT APPROXIMATELY 2:30 PM ON JUNE 21, 1986, TWO EMPLOYEES WERE ERECTING AN 80 FOO T HIGH TV CABLE TOWER FOR THE KEUKA CABLEVISION COMPANY. THE SITE WAS ON BALDWIN ROAD IN RUSHVILLE, NEW YORK. THEY ASSEMBLED 20 FEET OF THE TOWER ON THE GROUND, THEN MOUNTED IT ON THE CONCRETE PAD. THEY THEN CLIMBED UP THE TOWER AND MOUNTED TWO MORE 10 FOOT SECTIONS OF THE TOWER, USING A GIN POLE TO RAISE THE SECTIONS. AT THE 40 FOOT LEVEL THE TOWER BROKE LOOSE FROM THE CONCRETE PAD AND FELL OVER, TAKING EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WITH IT. EMPLOYEE #1 SUSTAINED MULTIPLE FRACTURES. E MPLOYEE #2 SUFFERED MULTIPLE FRACTURES OF THE SKULL. THE TOWER WAS NOT GUYED AND COULDN'T SUPPORT THE WEIGHT OF THE TWO EMPLOYEES.

Victims (2)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 30 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    2
    Event type
    5
    Source
    8
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    4
    Environmental factor
    6
    Task assigned
    2
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 30 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    5
    Source
    8
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    4
    Environmental factor
    6
    Task assigned
    2

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.