Accident: 170871396 - Fall - Slipped Trying To Free Ski Lift Chair

A maintenance crew for a ski resort was removing a ski lift chair from an exhibition ski lift for an annual inspection. One of the employees was working from a scaffold, tied in with a harness. To remove the chair from the lift cable, he was to loosen the cable clamp, attach the chair to a hoist, and lower it to the ground. The employee operating the ski lift stopped the cable about 50 to 100 millimeters too far, which ran the cable clamp under a sheave, binding it. Seeing the problem, the employee on the scaffold apparently disconnected his harness and climbed up the tower ladder and out onto the sheave assembly so that he could pry up the sheave wheel with a crescent wrench. As he was prying with the wrench, he slipped and fell 4.6 meters to the ground. He sustained a compound fracture of his arm and was hospitalized.

fall, fall protection, slip, work surface, amusement ride, fracture, arm

Accident: 170572838 - Fall - Wire Rope Support Failure

An employee was operating a Climb-N-Dangle rock-climbing wall at an amusement park. The wire rope by which he was suspended broke, allowing him to fall 4.6 meters to the ground. He fractured his right wrist in the fall.

fall, fall protection, amusement ride, wrist, fracture, amuse park/carnival

Accident: 952002 - Killed In Fall From Edge Of Roof

Employee #1 was repairing the gutters at the edge of an the roof of a three-story building. His foot was braced against an ice cleat on the metal roof when the cleat broke and he fell approximately 70 ft to the sidewalk. Employee #1 died of massive trauma.

construction, fall, repair, roof, unstable position, equipment failure, work rules

Accident: 119948016 - Injured In Fall While Framing House

At approximately 7:00 a.m. on December 1, 2000, Employee #1 was framing a residence when he fell 9 ft 6 in., sustaining a fractured right arm and lacerated liver. Employee #1 was transported by paramedics to JFK Memorial Hospital, where he was hospitalized for five days.

laceration, carpenter, fracture, arm, liver, fall, construction

Accident: 170205199 - Dies After Fall From Ladder

At approximately 1:07 p.m. on November 30, 2000, Employee #1, a window cleaner for Loft Management & Maintenance, was using a 24 ft portable, metal extension ladder to wash the courtyard windows on the first floor of a building in San Francisco. The ladder was extended between 15 and 16 ft. A coworker was holding the ladder while Employee #1 washed the windows. Employee #1 then asked for some towels, and the coworker left his position and walked approximately two steps to get them. During this time when the ladder was not being held, Employee #1 lost his balance and fell 14 ft to the ground. He was transported to the trauma center at San Francisco General Hospital, where he was declared brain dead. Employee #1 died at 7:07 p.m. on December 1, 2000. The employer was cited for a violation of T8CCR 1675(j), concerning ladder use and safety.

window washer, ladder, work rules, unsecured, extension ladder, fall, metal ladder, unstable position

Accident: 126081330 - Injured While Fighting Fire

At approximately 2:15 a.m. on October 29, 2000, Employee #1, a Los Angeles County fire captain with 23 years of experience, and three coworkers were fighting a fire that had started at approximately 1:30 a.m. at a glass retailer in Whittier, CA. The crew entered the building from the front, which had not yet burned, and were wetting the areas before them as they advanced into the burning building. A coworker was between 2 and 3 ft away from Employee #1, helping him hose down small fires. The coworker glanced at Employee #1 every 20 to 30 seconds to maintain eye contact, and then saw that he had fallen through the floor and into the basement. Employee #1 sustained second- and third-degree burns on his chest, back, and legs, and soft tissue injuries to his back; he also suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning and lactic acidosis. These injuries resulted from exposure to the fire, smoke inhalation, and the fall through the floor into the basement. Apparently, the men had advanced along a walkway to an attached house. Employee #1 later stated that he thought he was standing on ground level and did not realize there was a basement. Normal procedures call for sounding roofs only. Employee #1 did not sound the floor and thought he was on solid ground. Apparently the floor was suffering from dry rot. The fire department's investigation indicated that the floor had collapsed from beneath Employee #1. Further investigation revealed that the ground sloped down from the front of the building, a fact that was not readily apparent from the street or from the front of the building.

fire, fire fighter, burn, smoke inhalation, work surface, collapse, carbon monoxide, back, fall

Accident: 656173 - Knee Bruised In Same-Level Fall

Employee #1 was assigned to adjust some stock at the top of a pallet, which required that he be raised from a guarded work platform. He had on a full body harness and was attached by a lanyard and chain to the top rail of the guardrail system. This allowed Employee #1 to exit the work platform and climb onto the pallet to adjust the stock. He was standing on the pallet when a piece of wood broke and he fell through up to his crotch. Employee #1 sustained bruises to his knee.

fall, pallet, equipment failure, knee, contusion, elevated work plat, board

Accident: 170205165 - Injured In Fall From Scaffold

At approximately 3:15 p.m. on October 18, 2000, Employee #1, an engineer for Pankow Residential Builders, and a pump operator were using a remote control box to operate a concrete boom pump. Employee #1 was standing on top of a rolling scaffold, assisting laborers in moving the extra length of concrete hose over to the next wall. The boom pump operator was raising the boom slightly to help move the hose when the boom caught the scaffold railing and started to lift it off the ground. Employee #1 jumped off the scaffold, grabbing the top rail of the adjacent wall. The railing broke and he fell backward, away from the wall, striking the back of his head on a concrete slab.

construction, scaffold, equipment failure, unstable position, guardrail, fall, head, struck against, boom, mech mat handling

Accident: 119947943 - Injured In Fall From Ladder

At approximately 10:54 a.m. on October 17, 2000, Employee #1, an electrician was repairing a parking lot light stanchion in Redlands. After changing the light fixture ballast, he was climbing down the ladder when he fell approximately 8 to 10 ft. He sustained a fractured pelvis. Employee #1 was transported to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where he was hospitalized for seven days.

electrician, back, fracture, pelvis, fall, ladder, descending, repair

Accident: 201793288 - Injured In Fall From Amusement Ride

A church had hired a recreational services company to set up a fair with some amusement rides. A member of the public, a 16-year-old girl, was riding in a swing ride called a "Psycho Swing." The church had provided two volunteers to operate the swing. The swing was one-person, manually operated rigid swing, which can perform 360-degree revolutions. It was equipped with a braking device and had a strap on the left side. The rider, wearing a harness and holding onto the two vertical supports, stands on a platform that revolves around an axle. One of the volunteers hooked the swing's snaphooks to the harness on the girl and clamped her feet to the platform. The girl did a loop, went forward and backward, then slipped off, flipping and landing chest first, face down. She was still wearing the harness when she landed. She was hospitalized for her injuries. (No employees were injured in the accident.)

amusement ride, amuse park/carnival, fall, fall protection, equipment failure