Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) for Kentucky: Hispanic Carpenter Dies After Falling from Homemade Platform

摘要

In the Spring of 2007, a 32-year-old Hispanic male carpenter (decedent) died when he fell from a homemade platform (extended approximately seven feet in the air) after it detached from a telehandler (forklift). The decedent and two other carpenters were framing a new construction, single-family residence located on a hillside which was rough and steep. The three carpenters were framing the wall at the rear corner of the house which was high because of the sloping terrain. To reach the area, the crew decided to use a homemade platform as a makeshift scaffold. A fourth worker operated a rough-terrain forklift and elevated the platform with the three carpenters holding the wall to be framed up in the air. The forklift operator lifted the unsecured platform and at approximately seven feet in the air, the platform fell off the forks. Two of the carpenters fell off the platform, which fell on the edge of the foundation above the mens heads. The decedent fell off the left end of the platform which struck him in the head. Emergency medical services were summoned to the scene. Upon their arrival they found the other two carpenters who had fallen together alive and requiring medical attention. They were transported to a nearby hospital and later released. Emergency medical service personnel found the third carpenter to be without vital signs and contacted the local coroner who arrived and declared the carpenter dead at the scene.