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 #893925

LACERATION,FRACTURE,HIGH WIND,INSTALLING,COLLAPSE,CONSTRUCTION,BACK

Event
LACERATION,FRACTURE,HIGH WIND,INSTALLING,COLLAPSE,CONSTRUCTION,BACK
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
893925
Report ID
355114

Event description

THREE EMPLOYEES INJURED IN HOUSE COLLAPSE DUE TO HIGH WIND

Investigation abstract

At 2:45 p.m. on March 31, 1989, Employees #1, 2 and 3 were inside a 2-story sing point the employees ran to get out, but the house collapsed on top of them. They had been on the first floor level at the time. Employee #1 was trapped just ins ide the back of the house, but the other two employees were able to free themsel ves. Employee #1 received a laceration over his right eye, a fractured upper leg and a low back injury. Employee #2 suffered rib and low back injuries. Employee #3 incurred a back injury. Employees #1 and two were hospitalized, and Employee #3 was treated and released. Prior to this occurrence the house appeared to hav e normal stability at this stage of construction. It was unable to withstand the sudden violent burst of wind which struck it. le family house under construction. The house was under roof with the stairs and all interior studding in place. The exterior walls, at that phase, consisted of 2 inch by 4 inch studs and styrofoam sheathing with the window and door opening s in place. Employees #1, 2, and #3 were installing the plumbing at this time. W hen they went into the house the weather was warm and sunny with a light breeze. Approximately 10 minutes later the sky darkened and the wind began to pick up c ausing the house to creak. A sudden burst of wind struck the house causing the r oof to apparently lift up a short distance and the house began to move. At this

Victims (4)

  1. #1 Hospitalized Age 26 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    2
    Source
    8
    Occupation code
    557
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    6
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 21 M

    Nature of injury
    3
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    1
    Source
    8
    Occupation code
    587
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    6
    Task assigned
    1
  3. #3 Non-hospitalized injury Age 23 M

    Nature of injury
    3
    Part of body
    3
    Event type
    1
    Source
    8
    Occupation code
    587
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    6
    Task assigned
    1
  4. #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.