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Investigation Reports - Construction
- Worker falls through roof insulation to concrete floor
- Date of incident: March 2007
- NI number: 2007157520114
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As a safety officer myself, and reading the details of the incident, it sounds to me that there should have been a safety net or some other control procedure in place prior to the worker even getting on the roof. more
Summary
Four workers were working on the relatively flat roof of a structural steel building. They were laying down metal roof panels over a layer of blanket insulation that had already been placed across the metal roof beams. One of the workers fell through the insulation to the concrete floor 17 feet (5.2 metres) below. The worker died in hospital from his injuries.
Conclusions
Findings as to causes
Four workers were working on the relatively flat roof of a structural steel building. They were laying down metal roof panels over a layer of blanket insulation that had already been placed across the metal roof beams. One of the workers fell through the insulation to the concrete floor 17 feet (5.2 metres) below. The worker died in hospital from his injuries.
Conclusions
Findings as to causes
- The worker fell through a layer of insulation and hit the concrete floor 17 feet (5.2 metres) below. There was no fall protection system in place to stop his fall.
- Supervisors and workers did not have any written site-specific safe work procedures for installing the roofing panels.
- The employer did not adequately ensure that supervision at the work site complied with the site-safety program and WorkSafeBC requirements. There was no adequate system to ensure that the supervisors were trained to perform their safety responsibilities and were carrying them out.
- Donna, Construction Safety Officer
- Calgary, AB
- As a safety officer myself, and reading the details of the incident, it sounds to me that there should have been a safety net or some other control procedure in place prior to the worker even getting on the roof. Was he asked to wear fall protection? Was there a hazard assessment done prior to the workers going on that roof? I see the employer did not have a written procedure in place, so to ask if there was a hazard assessment done would have not been applicable on the employer's part.
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