OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14491526

JOSEPH DEVITA, INC.

PATERSON, NJ· 1987-02-20T00:00:00

Event: FRACTURE, STAIR, DEMOLITION, LIFELINE, WORK RULES, CONSTRUCTION, SKULL, FALL, FALL PROTECTION
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #100204700
Employer profile: JOSEPH DEVITA, INC.
Summary number: 14491526
Report ID: 214500

Event description

EMPLOYEE FELL THROUGH RUSTED STAIRS INTO BASEMENT (75 FEET)

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ASSISTING IN THE DEMOLITION OF 15 STORIES OF EMERGENCY EGRESS ST AIRS. HE FIRST REMOVED THE INTERMEDIATE 7 FEET LONG BY 4 FEET WIDE METAL STAIR L ANDINGS, CREATING A HOISTWAY TO REMOVE DEBRIS AND PROVIDE EMPLOYEES WITH ACCESS TO THEIR WORK AREAS WITHIN THE 12 FOOT, 6 INCH BY 7 FOOT BRICKED STAIRWAY. WORKI NG FROM THE TOP DOWN, EMPLOYEE #1 MADE IT TO THE 10TH FLOOR. AS HE WAS WALKING O N SOME RUSTED BROKEN HOLLOW PAN-TYPE STAIR TREADS, THE TREADS GAVE WAY. HE FELL TO THE BASEMENT 75 FEET BELOW, FRACTURING HIS SKULL. A LIFELINE HAD NOT BEEN PRO VIDED.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 32 M

Nature of injury
12

Part of body
13

Event type
5

Source
42

Occupation code
999

Human factor
1

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.