OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14497762
NORTHDALE CONSTRUCTION CO
HOUSTON, TX—
Event description
Employee killed in fall when stair section collapses
Investigation abstract
Employee #1 was helping to align a set of metal stairs that were being installed . After the stair sections had been bolted and spot welded in place, a plumb bob revealed them to be approximately 2 in. out of line. A come-along was used to p ull the stair platform into line, causing a metal flange to bend where it was sp ot welded. When the workers started to flatten the flange with a sledge hammer, the weld broke. As the come-along pulled the stairs backward, the bottom section of the stairs dropped away like a trap door. Employee #1 fell and struck his he ad on the flight of stairs below. He was killed.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 56 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 5
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 8
- 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.