Accident Report Detail

Accident Summary Nr: 200641769 - Employee falls from tower and dies

Accident Summary Nr: 200641769 -- Report ID: 0627700 -- Event Date: 03/07/2001
Inspection Nr	Date Opened	SIC	NAICS	Establishment Name
303641872	03/08/2001	1731	0	Big Horn Towers Inc.

Abstract: At approximately 3:50 p.m. on March 7, 2001, Employee #1, a crew leader, and three coworkers were replacing a 1.625 in. coax cable on the top of a 400 ft wire guy tower. After climbing the tower, Employee #1 tied off to the electrical capstan hoist load line. In the process of riding the line down, cable snap-ins were removed that secured the old cable to the side of the tower. On the ground, the new cable was tied to the hoist line and Employee #1 rode the hoist load line back up to the top of the tower, where the new cable was temporarily secured. The old cable was tied in to the hoist line at the top of the tower and Employee #1 got on the hoist load line and signaled the trainee hoist operator to lower the line. Employee #1 and old cable were lowered about 20 ft when the line stopped sliding around the drum of the capstan hoist. The trainee hoist operator was instructed to remove one of six wraps of rope from the drum. In attempting to remove a wrap the rope line came off the hoist drum, and Employee #1 and the old cable fell from near the top of the tower to the ground. Employee #1 died.

Keywords: DRUM HOIST, HOISTING MECHANISM, WIRE ROPE, DRUM, HOIST, FALL, LOAD LINE, HOISTLINE

Accident Details
End Use		Project Type		Project Cost	Stories	Non-building Height	Fatality
Tower, tank, storage elevator		Other		Under $50,000		400	X

Employee Details
Employee #	Inspection Nr	Age	Sex	Degree of Injury	Nature of Injury	Occupation	Construction
1	303641872			Fatality	Concussion	Electrical power installers and repairers	Distance of Fall: feet Worker Height Above Ground/Floor: 380 feet Cause: Installing equipment (HVAC and other) Fatality Cause: Fall from/with structure (other than roof)

Thank You for Visiting Our Website

You are exiting the Department of Labor's Web server.

The Department of Labor does not endorse, takes no responsibility for, and exercises no control over the linked organization or its views, or contents, nor does it vouch for the accuracy or accessibility of the information contained on the destination server. The Department of Labor also cannot authorize the use of copyrighted materials contained in linked Web sites. Users must request such authorization from the sponsor of the linked Web site. Thank you for visiting our site. Please click the button below to continue.