On January 14, 2016, a 22-year-old male laborer/carpenter (victim) employed by a residential contractor was fatally injured after falling from a single family house under construction.

While on the top plate of a studded exterior second story wall, the victim lost his balance and fell approximately 24 feet to the frozen ground below. The fall was not witnessed by any of the co-workers onsite, but the site foreman heard a noise and while trying to determine what the noise was he found the victim on the ground. The site foreman placed a call for emergency medical services (EMS). EMS and local police and state police arrived within minutes.

The victim was med-flighted to a regional trauma center where he was in the intensive care unit and was pronounced dead the next day.

Contributing factors identified in this investigation included: employees were not protected from fall hazards and employees were not provided training.

Source: Occupational Health Surveillance Program
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
www.mass.gov/dph/FACE