FACE Report: Welder falls 32 feet from storage tank roof

Case report: #71-260-2024 
Issued by: Washington State Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program
Date of report: Nov. 1, 2024

A welder with more than 40 years of experience was constructing the leading edge of an aboveground storage tank roof with sheets of metal sheathing. He was with three co-workers on a roof that was 76 feet wide by 34.5 feet high, with a 1/12 pitch. He was acting as a spotter for a crane operator who was hoisting the sheets to cover a 16-foot hole remaining on the roof. After unloading the sheets, the welder needed to tack weld one near the center peak of the roof. He stepped from the leading edge to a rafter over part of the hole. He then sat down on the rafter and extended his legs 2.5 feet across the hole to another rafter. While sitting on the rafter, he used a pry bar to bend and move the sheet into place for welding. As he pried, he fell backward through the hole between the rafter and leading edge and landed on the ground, 32 feet below. Emergency responders arrived and airlifted the worker, who was still conscious, to the hospital. He died the next day. Investigators found that the welder and his co-workers had tied off while riding a boom lift to the roof, but their supervisor allowed them to remove their personal fall arrest system harnesses when on the roof because the workers believed lifelines would create a tripping hazard. The employer lacked a fall protection work plan and did not know about state requirements to have one, and the project manager had not conducted any safety inspections at the jobsite.

To prevent similar incidents, employers should:

• Use a crane to move sheathing near roof leading edges.
• Develop a fall protection work plan and personal fall arrest system policies in incident prevention programs. Policies should require pre-planning the use, training and inspection of site-specific fall protection.
• Have supervisors review fall protection requirements with workers at pre-job crew meetings, routinely check that they are following them and implement corrective action when needed.
• Demonstrate fall prevention leadership by prioritizing fall prevention at pre-job crew meetings, monthly safety meetings and annual stand-downs, as well as in company newsletters and on social media.