Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025
105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221567514

TRI-STATE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.

Event
Blunt force trauma, Cable, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Head, Ladder, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Repair, Telecom Work, Troubleshooting
NAICS
238210
Inspection type
Federal Agency
Activity number
#346735798
Employer profile
TRI-STATE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Summary number
221567514
Report ID
0950621

Event description

Employee is killed when thrown from ladder

Investigation abstract

At 10:00 a.m. on May 20, 2023, an employee was troubleshooting internet service in the opposite direction facing away from the house. While the employee was on the ladder, the cable separated from the mainline, causing the ladder to fling backwards. The employee was catapulted on the street, more than 15 feet away. The employee sustained blunt force head trauma. Emergency responders arrived, treated, and transported him via air flight but he died on the way to the hospital. at a residential site. The employee's vehicle was parked on the shoulder of a residential street, under the telephone lines with an extension ladder hanging over the lines, approximately 18-feet above the ground. This location, identified as the mainline, is connected by a cable that stretched across the street and connected to the ted to the customer's house. The placement of the ladder is critical to the safety of the employee, as the correct position for hanging the ladder on the mainline should be facing the service home. However, a 4-5 foot snowbank was blocking ladder access, and the employee placed the ladder

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 39 M

    Event type
    5

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.