Date of incident: November 2020
Notice of incident number: 2020188270021
Employers: Construction company (prime contractor); roofing company

Incident summary
At a highrise construction site, four bundles of rigid insulation materials were stored on an upper deck, to be installed later by a roofing company. During high wind conditions, one of the bundles blew off the deck. A worker on the ground level went to investigate, and entered a gated walkway where the bundle had landed. The other three bundles then fell, striking him. He sustained fatal injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Unsafe worker position. The worker entered the area where the first bundle had landed after it was blown from its storage location. The worker began to investigate the fallen bundle before ensuring that any remaining bundles of insulation, or other materials, were adequately secured.

Contributing factors

• Inadequate securement of materials. Workers of the construction company had not adequately secured the four bundles of rigid insulation against inadvertent movement. In the storage area on the upper deck, the bundles were susceptible to high winds. Without adequate securement, the bundles were blown toward and over the parapet bordering the deck.
• Inadequate assessment of risk. TThe potential for the bundles of insulation or similar materials to blow off the building was not properly evaluated. Consequently, the risk of serious injury or death resulting from large and/or heavy materials falling was not adequately assessed and mitigated.
• Inadequate work practices. Neither the construction company (the prime contractor) nor the roofing company had developed specific criteria or procedures for storing and securing materials. Although other materials, including plywood and individual sheets of insulation, had previously fallen during various construction phases on this worksite, the construction company did not take steps to implement improved procedures for securing materials. Requirements were left to the discretion of the materials users or, when materials were moved, to the discretion of the worker(s) handling the materials. Furthermore, areas where workers were routinely located, such as the gated walkway or scaffolding, were not designed with overhead protection to mitigate the hazard of falling materials.
• Inadequate coordination of work. The bundles of insulation had to be stored longer than anticipated because they were loaded onto the deck before the deck was ready for insulation to be installed. The bundles also had to be moved and handled to facilitate preparation work prior to installation. Improved coordination between the construction company and the roofing company likely would have identified that preparation work was required before the insulation was stored on the upper deck, thereby eliminating the need to move and store the bundles more than once.

Request the full report