Worker died after falling from third-floor balcony
Date of incident: October 2019
Notice of incident number: 2019180140004
Employer: General contractor
Incident summary
At a residential apartment building, two workers were installing wire mesh for stucco application on an external wall of a third-floor balcony. The glass panels in the balcony railing had been removed for workers to access the balcony from an aerial work platform (AWP). One worker (the supervisor) was cutting the wire mesh, and the other worker was fastening it to the exterior wall. The worker who was installing the wire mesh fell through an opening under the top rail of the balcony railing and landed on the ground approximately 5.5 m (18 ft.) below. The worker sustained fatal injuries.
Investigation conclusions
Cause
- Removal of glass panels from railing. The glass panels had been removed from the balcony railing to prevent damage to the glass during the repairs being done and so workers could access the balconies without going through the residential suites. The openings in the railing were 91 cm (36 in.) high and 102 cm (40 in.) wide. Without the benefit of protective barriers — that is, the glass panels in the railing or installed guardrails — the worker fell through an opening to the ground below.
Contributing factors
- Inadequate supervision. Unsafe conditions were not identified and corrected, amounting to ineffective supervision at this jobsite. Workers were permitted to use and operate the AWP in a manner that was not in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, which indicate that exiting the AWP at elevation is not an acceptable use of the AWP. The employer had removed the basket (designed to prevent workers from falling off the AWP) and replaced it with a small wood platform for workers to easily access above-grade balconies. There were no effective controls for the fall hazard that the worker and other workers were exposed to at this site.
- Failure to use fall protection. Neither the supervisor nor the worker was wearing fall protection at the time of the incident. Given the openings in the balcony railings, failure to identify the need to wear fall protection enabled this incident to occur.
- Failure to identify hazard. The removal of the glass panels from the balcony railing created a hazardous condition. Failure to identify and take appropriate action to mitigate the fall hazard — either by using fall protection, installing guardrails, or leaving the glass panels in place — enabled the incident to occur.