Fall through surface or existing opening 16 to 20 feet · Fractures and other injuries, unspecified
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Eilers Steel Erection, Inc., 2801 Ashwood rd., SCHERTZ, TEXAS 78108
on — Fractures and other injuries, unspecified, affecting the multiple body parts, unspecified.
Final narrative
An employee was taking a break to get water for himself and another co-worker. After retrieving the water bottles and returning to the second floor, the employee went to hand a bottle to their co-worker when they fell 17 feet through a 3-foot-by-5-foot opening onto the concrete floor below. The employee sustained rib fractures, spinal damage, and head lacerations.
HospitalizedMultiple body parts, unspecifiedExisting floor opening
More severe injuries at Eilers Steel Erection, Inc.
An employee was rigging/hanging steel to begin the steel erection process. A steel beam swung out and struck the employee breaking their tibia and ankle.
On November 16, 2023, at around 3:30 p.m., a subcontracted employee was painting a door jam on a three-story house when he fell 20 feet through an opened elevator shaft to the floor below. The employee sustained fractured vertebrae that required hospitalization.
Employees were removing and replacing skylights on a metal roof. The injured employee's lanyard became tangled and they fell through the skylight to the ground 16-18 feet below. The employee suffered fractures to the wrist, ribs, and hip.
An employee was requested by a client to string wire on top of an auditorium. He used a boom lift to access a beam and then exited the boom lift to walk on the beam. He then stepped down on a drop ceiling, lost balance, and fell. The drop ceiling caved in and the employee fell 20 feet onto bleachers sustaining injury to his abdominal area and lower left leg. The employee was wearing a harness, but it was not connected to an anchoring point at the time of the fall.
An employee was installing decking (steel grates) in a new construction steel framed building. The employees were working approximately 22' above the next lower level, which was a concrete ground floor. The decking was pre-cut with the floor opening prior to installation. Shortly after installing the floor opening, the employee fell through the floor opening, approximately 18' onto a section of metal ductwork, resulting in fractures to the skull, ribs, thorax, and lumbar vertebra, as well as an ear laceration.
An employee was taking measurements of an area for drywall when they stepped backward into a partially covered hole in the floor. The employee fell approximately 17 feet to the level below, sustaining a forehead fracture and avulsion, a right shoulder dislocation, a left forearm fracture, left knee tendon and meniscus tears, as well as multiple contusions and abrasions.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 238120)
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An employee was standing on the surface of a steel beam about two feet wide. He slipped and fell backward, landing on the concrete ground about 20 feet below. The employee sustained a broken pelvis.
An employee was unloading a rebar delivery from a flatbed, 19-wheel trailer. The employee rigged the load with wire rope chokers. The load was picked up 3-4 feet above the trailer deck by a crane. The load began to swing and the employee grabbed onto it to prevent it from being pushed off the trailer deck. The crane continued to lift the load, and the employee let go so the crane did not lift him to the third story. The employee fell approximately 12 feet to the ground below, resulting in a back injury and fractured vertebrae.
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