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 #14526446

UNSECURED,WORK RULES,GUARDRAIL,COLLAPSE,CONSTRUCTION,FALL,FALL PROTECTION

Event
UNSECURED,WORK RULES,GUARDRAIL,COLLAPSE,CONSTRUCTION,FALL,FALL PROTECTION
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14526446
Report ID
418800

Event description

EMPLOYEE FELL 120 FEET TO GROUND WHEN GUARDRAIL BROKE

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 AND TWO OTHER EMPLOYEES WERE WAITING FOR A HOIST CAR AT THE 14TH FLO PED OVER THE PIECE OF PLYWOOD. THE OTHER EMPLOYEE WAS LEANING WITH HIS HAND AGAI NST A PLYWOOD HOIST BARRIER. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS LOCATED BETWEEN THE TWO OTHER EMPLO YEES, LEANING AGAINST THE PIECE OF PLYWOOD WHILE TALKING TO HIS FRIENDS TWO FLOO RS BELOW. THE GUARDRAIL SUDDENLY GAVE WAY, ALLOWING EMPLOYEE #1 TO FALL 120 FEET TO THE GROUND. HE WAS KILLED. THE TWO OTHER EMPLOYEES DID NOT FALL BECAUSE THEY WERE ABLE TO HANG ON TO EITHER THE TRASH CHUTE OR THE PLYWOOD BARRIER TO THE MA N HOIST. OR. IT WAS JUST BEFORE THE LUNCH BREAK. THE THREE EMPLOYEES WERE LEANING AGAINST A PERIMETER GUARDRAIL, TALKING TO OTHER EMPLOYEES LOCATED TWO FLOORS BELOW. THE GUARDRAIL WAS 104 INCHES LONG, SPANNING THE DISTANCE BETWEEN A TRASH CHUTE AND A MAN HOIST. THE GUARDRAIL WAS SUPPORTED BY TWO CLAMP-TYPE STEEL STANCHIONS ON 8 1 INCH CENTERS. THE TOE BOARD AND BOTH RAILS WERE MADE OF 2 BY 4 INCH LUMBER. A SHEET OF PLYWOOD, 4 BY 8 FEET AND 3/8 INCH THICK, WAS STORED UPRIGHT AGAINST THE GUARDRAIL AND WAS HELD IN PLACE BY A WOODEN CRATE FILLED WITH GLASS PANELS. ONE OF EMPLOYEE #1'S COWORKERS WAS LOCATED NEXT TO THE TRASH CHUTE WITH HIS ARM DRA

Victims (2)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 17 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    5
    Source
    5
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    18
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #981 Degree 0 Age 0

    Nature of injury
    0
    Part of body
    0
    Event type
    0
    Source
    0
    Occupation code
    0
    Human factor
    0
    Environmental factor
    0
    Task assigned
    0

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.