The employer owned the hoist that failed in this incident. According to the company owner, training for his employees was done mainly through on-the-job- training. A copy of their IIPP was not made available. The decedent had been employed with this company only nine months, but according to the company owner, had 12 years of previous window washing experience.Īccording to the owner, the company had a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) with the required elements, even though they had only six employees. The decedent and one other employee were the only employees at the site on the day of the incident. The employer of the decedent was a small window washing company that operated year-round and had been in business for 23 years. On April 18, 2000, the CA/FACE investigator interviewed the owner of the company. The CA/FACE investigator learned of this incident on Apthrough the California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) office in the area where the incident took place. The primary and secondary brake of the hoist also failed causing the swing stage scaffold to drop to a vertical position. The center shaft of the electric hoist operating one side of the swing stage scaffold failed. On March 29, 2000, at approximately 2:20 p.m., a 32 year-old male window washer died when he fell approximately 60 feet from a swing stage scaffold onto the pavement below. Ensure employees are supervised when using window washing equipment and safety gear.Ensure all safety features of the hoist system are used as prescribed by the manufacturer when feasible.Ensure employees always attach the lanyard to the fall protection harness and the independent safety lifeline before operating a swing stage scaffold.The CA/FACE investigator determined that, in order to prevent future occurrences, employers should, as part their Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP): The owner also stated that his employees were authorized and properly trained to operate the hoist. This system was not used at the time of the incident. The hoist also comes equipped with an auxiliary slack rope brake system that locks the hoist to a second wire rope. The primary brake and the over speed secondary brake were dependent on the center shaft for proper operation. This employee was also wearing the appropriate fall protection harness, however he tied his lanyard off to the swing stage scaffold handrail prior to movement. Another employee was also in the scaffold at the time of this incident. He was wearing the appropriate fall protection harness, but the lanyard was not attached to the safety lifeline because it was still on the roof of the building. The decedent fell to the concrete parking lot below. The over speed secondary brake, an internal part of the hoist, also failed allowing the scaffold to drop to a vertical position. A 32-year-old male window washer died when he fell approximately 60 feet from a swing stage scaffold when the center shaft of the electric hoist controlling the left side of the swing stage scaffold failed.
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