FACE Report: Framer struck by beam after falling from scissor lift

Case report: #71-258-2024
Issued by: Washington State Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program
Date of report: Sept. 25, 2024

A 41-year-old framer had been working for two weeks a residential subcontractor at the site of a new apartment complex. The framer and a co-worker planned to use two scissor lifts in tandem to raise and insert a glulam wooden beam into the side of a horizontal I-beam more than 8 feet above the concrete floor. The beam was 22 feet long, 22.5 inches wide and 3.5 inches thick. The workers aligned the lifts about 10 feet apart and placed the beam broadside down and across the lifts’ top guardrails but did not secure it. It was about 6.5 feet above the floor. The workers were standing on the floor at opposite ends of the beam. Out of view of his co-worker, the framer unexpectedly went up the steps or climbed the side of his lift and fell on his back. The beam fell off the lift and on top of him. The co-worker saw the beam fall and ran over to lift it off the injured framer. He notified two superintendents, who called 911 and began CPR. First responders arrived and pronounced the framer dead at the scene from severe head injuries. Investigators found that the framer was not trained and authorized to use the lift, the employer and supervisor knew of the lift manufacturer’s warnings not to put materials on the guardrails and were unaware of safer options, and lift operators and helpers at the site spoke Spanish and could not read the employer’s English-only hazard assessment for the task or the incident prevention program.

To help prevent similar occurrences:

• Use forklifts, cranes or contractor material lifts to elevate construction materials – not scissor lifts.
• Develop and have supervisors enforce policies, job hazard analyses and standard operating procedures for safe use of elevating work platforms.
• Have policies, JHAs and training resources translated to the worker’s preferred language.
• Train operators using the manufacturer’s manual, and highlight warnings not to put materials on guardrails or have them exceed the confines of the guardrails unless approved by the manufacturer.