Date of incident: September 2022
Notice of incident number: 2022184480002
Employers: Two general construction contracting companies (one as prime contractor)

Incident summary
A worker was doing framing work on a residential building under construction, manually nailing up the fascia boards around the perimeter of the roof trusses on the house. While sitting on the top of a second-storey exterior wall, he leaned out to see if the ends of the trusses were lined up. The worker lost his balance and fell approximately 7.8 m (25 ft. 7 in.) to the ground below, sustaining serious injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Worker fell from height without fall protection system. There was no effective fall protection method or system in place at the time of the incident.

Contributing factors

• Lack of fall protection plan. A fall protection system was not considered for the work that was being done, despite the existence of fall hazards of 3 m (10 ft.) or more. Additionally, a written fall protection plan was not completed before the incident.
• Inadequate training and supervision.
  • The worker’s employer failed to provide adequate supervision, relying on the worker to plan and complete the framing part of the job. The worker had received no formal training in health and safety, including fall protection, and was not adequately supervised at the workplace.
  • The prime contractor failed to ensure the health and safety of all workers present at its workplace. The supervisor who was assigned to oversee the project for the prime contractor had not received adequate training in construction or health and safety, nor adequate information or instruction related to his responsibilities as the supervisor of a multiple-employer workplace.
• Inadequate coordination at multiple-employer workplace. By not providing oversight to the framing workers — who were required to do work at heights of 3 m (10 ft.) or more — the prime contractor failed to coordinate the occupational health and safety activities at the workplace.

Request the full report