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 #601849

ROOF,SLIP,CONSTRUCTION,FALL,FALL PROTECTION,ROOF OPENING,LOST BALANCE,UNGUARDED

Event
ROOF,SLIP,CONSTRUCTION,FALL,FALL PROTECTION,ROOF OPENING,LOST BALANCE,UNGUARDED
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
601849
Report ID
420600

Event description

Employee dies after falling through roof opening

Investigation abstract

On March 6, 1989, Employee #1 was 25 feet high on the roof of a Wal-Mart expansi on. He was helping another employee lay down metal sheets that were 20 feet long and 30 inches wide and weighed about 80 pounds per sheet. He was trying to move a bundle (there were 10 sheets in a bundle) with a prybar when he slipped and f ell through an opening in the roof. He fell about 25 feet to the concrete floor and was killed. He was experienced in this type of work, having owned his own co mpany for 16 years before he retired. At the time of the accident, the weather w as clear and sunny.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 69 M

    Nature of injury
    6
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    5
    Source
    8
    Occupation code
    595
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    8
    Hazardous substance
    8880
    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.