Hispanic Laborer Dies from Fall off Roof

On March 3, 2003, a 22-year-old Hispanic female laborer (decedent) died when she fell from a roof. She had been working on the roof with her brother, who was a sub-contractor for a local roofing company. The work crew consisted of two brothers and the decedent. Two days prior to the incident, the decedent had worked for her brother cleaning and organizing materials on the ground at another location. It was the decedent’s first day on this job site. It is unknown whether or not the decedent had worked on other roofing jobs. Her job was to organize materials and hand her brothers tools. Just before falling, she had handed one brother a hammer. Neither brother saw her fall, but they heard the crash of guttering falling and found their sister on the ground below. She was not wearing any personal fall protection nor was a fall protection system in place at the time of the incident. She was transported to a local hospital where the coroner pronounced her dead “due to multiple blunt force injuries, due to fall from a great height”. To prevent future occurrences of similar incidents, the following recommendations have been made: Recommendations Recommendation No. 1: Contractors hiring subcontractors should take responsibility for ensuring through contract language the subcontractors have an adequate safety program and understand and follow general safety practices and applicable Occupational Safety and Health Standards. Recommendation No. 2: Both roofing employers and subcontractors should provide comprehensive fall protection training and personal fall protection for their employees that is site specific. Recommendation No. 3: Employers should ensure workers receive safety training in their native language and be informed of hazardous and unsafe working conditions