Examples of Falls from Heights

Examples of falls from heights in the construction trades include the following:

• A scaffold collapses under the weight of workers and their equipment, seriously injuring them all.
• A worker carrying a sheet of plywood on a flat roof steps into a skylight opening and falls to the level below, killing him.
• A roofer falls approximately 20 feet to the concrete slab below and is killed.
• A construction worker without fall protection falls 15 feet to the ground from a carpenters' wall bracket scaffold and dies from blunt force trauma to the head.

As you can see, a "fall" can be any of the following:

• Falls from elevation or ground level to lower levels
• Falls through existing floor or roof openings (such as skylights)
• Falls through the floor or roof surface (floor or roof collapses)
• Falls resulting from jumps from structures and equipment

Workers are especially vulnerable to falling when working on or near the following:

• Unprotected edges of elevated work surfaces, including roofs
• Scaffolds
• Ladders

To learn more about Focus Four Safety visit our Construction Focus Four Safety Online Training web page.