Date of incident: January 2022
Notice of incident number: 2022175280001
Employers: Concrete forming company; general construction contractor (prime contractor)

Incident summary
At a residential house construction site, a worker was dismantling a temporary wood frame scaffold while standing on the floor of the loft, below the scaffold. When he removed the centre support of the scaffold, the I-joists that had been supported by the centre support fell. The worker was struck by a falling I-joist and knocked toward the edge of the loft, where he fell through an opening near the top of the stairs and landed on the main floor about 3.3 m (11 ft.) below. He sustained a serious injury.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• No guardrails around elevated work area. A guardrail had not been installed along the open side of the loft or at the stair landing.

Contributing factors

• Inadequate instruction, training, and supervision. The worker’s employer did not provide adequate instruction, training, and supervision; verify worker performance; or reinforce safe working practices.
• Lack of workplace inspections. Neither the prime contractor nor the worker’s employer conducted inspections of the worksite. In failing to conduct inspections and identify hazards, unsafe conditions were permitted to develop — such as missing guardrails and handrails, workers not wearing hard hats, fall hazards, incorrect scaffold construction, and incorrect temporary bracing of rafters and trusses. These unsafe conditions exposed workers to undue hazards.
• Inadequate coordination. The prime contractor did not coordinate work activities with respect to health and safety. Unsafe work was permitted to progress in elevated work areas such as the loft, temporary scaffold, and rafters. Fall hazards were created without being mitigated by installing guardrails and handrails at the loft’s edge and staircase or by using personal fall protection equipment. A system was not implemented to identify foreseeable hazards, communicate hazards, conduct site orientations, hold safety meetings, or ensure compliance with the health and safety requirements at the worksite.

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