Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report for Massachusetts: Massachusetts Mason Falls When Granite Block Tips Onto Scaffold, FACE-95-MA-041-01.

摘要

On October 31, a 69 year old male construction mason was fatally injured when he fell 22 feet through a scaffold which had collapsed. The scaffold collapsed when an approximately 1500 pound granite block tipped onto the scaffold. The victim had been overseeing the setting of the block by a 35-ton crane onto a seawall. When the sling was removed, the block tipped onto the wooden scaffold. Two co-workers jumped to adjacent scaffolds and were not injured. The victim fell through the hole made by the falling stone in the planks of the scaffold. He suffered severe head injuries in the fall and was assisted in breathing by a trained emergency medical technician on the site until the ambulance arrived. He was then transported to the local city emergency room where he died several hours later. The MA FACE Field Investigator concluded that to prevent similar future occurrences, employers should: (1) Ensure that slings are removed by hand, not with the use of the crane. (2) Consider the use of fall protection systems wherever there exists a possibility of overloading the scaffold system. (3) Develop, implement, and enforce a comprehensive safety program that includes, but is not limited to, a thorough hazard analysis and utilization of controls particular to the job.