Date of incident: April 2021
Notice of incident number: 2021175270004
Employer: Lighting products wholesaler

Incident summary
At a lighting products warehouse, a worker was obtaining products from a makeshift mezzanine. The worker had gained access to the mezzanine by using a folding stepladder. The worker fell approximately 3 m from the mezzanine to the concrete floor below, sustaining serious injuries. He later died of those injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Worker fell from unguarded mezzanine to concrete floor. While obtaining products from the unguarded mezzanine, the worker fell approximately 3 m from the edge of the mezzanine to the concrete floor below.

Contributing factors

• No health and safety program. The employer failed to ensure that an occupational health and safety program was implemented in the workplace. Although safety matters were regularly discussed, these discussions went undocumented. Safety inspections of the warehouse were conducted, but the inspections were not documented either.
• Lack of hazard identification. Because of the lack of a health and safety program, the employer did not examine the work processes required in its workplace so that hazard identification and risk assessment could be performed, and safety hazards eliminated or minimized. As a result, hazards such as storing products on the unguarded, structurally unsuitable mezzanine were not identified.

Other safety issue

• Lack of training. The worker did not use the proper type of ladder to gain access to and egress from the mezzanine area. This indicates that the employer failed to ensure all workers were adequately trained for work processes in the workplace, including the safe use and selection of ladders.

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