Date of incident: June 2023
Notice of incident number: 2023183340009
Employer: Painting and building maintenance contractor

Incident summary
Two painters were re-painting the exterior wall of a 10-storey building from a swing stage (work platform). At the end of the workday, one of the two workers attempted to exit the platform onto an adjacent extension ladder, and the worker fell approximately 4.9 m to the ground. The worker sustained serious injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Safe method to exit swing stage not provided. The worker fell while exiting the swing stage because a safe method to exit was not provided by the employer. The swing stage should have been lowered to a safe landing or the ground. If this was not practicable at the time, more should have been done to make the ladder exit safe, such as specific instructions to workers and use of an adequately secured ladder.
• Fall protection system not used. A fall protection system was available, but the system was not being used when the worker was exiting from the swing stage while at a height in excess of 3 m. The available fall protection system would have arrested the fall and likely prevented the worker’s injuries had it been used.

Contributing factors

• Lack of worker training and instruction. The employer did not provide adequate fall protection and swing stage training to the worker, who was relatively new to the work. The employer did not provide workers with adequate instruction on how to safely exit the swing stage to a ladder at height.
• Inadequate supervision. The workers were required to secure the swing stage overnight and to remove or coil up to an inaccessible height all suspended lines, including the fall protection lines. The employer failed to resolve the contradiction between the instruction to leave the fall protection lifelines coiled up on the swing stage’s work platform and the established safe work practice to remain connected to the lifeline when exiting the swing stage from height.

Request the full report