Accident Investigation Report



Accident Investigation Report

Case

Seriously injured workers in California and their families need to understand California work injury law. In order to illustrate these points here is a workplace scaffold accident case study. The discussion includes a California workers compensation analysis and a California third party work injury liability analysis.

Dizzy Scaffold, Inc. erected scaffolding so that work could be performed on an industrial tank. The scaffolding that was erected was a two-point suspension scaffold 15 - 25 feet above the ground. Employees of Coast and Turf Painting Co. were working on the scaffold when the scaffold attachment point failed, releasing the scaffold cables. The scaffold was not equipped with an independent attachment system and fell to the ground. Causing two painters to be severely injured.

Causes

Accidents cause axioms: (1) Everyone has an opinion regarding the causes of accidents. Few opinions are the same. (2) Safety professionals and academicians have data and studies showing the causes and cures for accidents. Few data or study results are the same. (3) OSHA has studies and reports showing how to reduce accidents. The accident rate has not changed significantly (with the exception of OSHA's accident rate data).

These three axioms suggest that we are still in our infancy regarding our knowledge of this subject. As we charge off to solve the accident problem, few-if any of us-fully understand the causes. We have found that the solution to the problem is more complex the more we learn about it.

One of the painters was not tied off independently, as a result he fell to the ground below suffering severe injuries, including brain damage, hip replacement, and multiple broken bones. The painter that was tied off suffered a severe elbow injury when his arm was caught in a cable.Criminal And Civil Law

Dizzy Scaffold, Inc. did not use scaffold tie backs as secondary anchorage on two-point suspension scaffolds. This is in violation of 29 CFR 1926.451(i)(4) and the equivalent CAL-OSHA section. 2. There were no employee lifelines to substantial members of the structure. Instead the lifelines were to the scaffold. This is in violation of 29 CFR 1926.451(i)(8) and the equivalent CAL-OSHA section. 3. They failed to use scaffold attachment components capable of sustaining four times the maximum load. This is in violation of 29 CFR 1926.451(i) (2) and the CAL-OSHA equivalent section.The Coast and Turf Painting Co. employees were entitled to benefits under the California workers compensation system. The benefits were low - California has some of the lowest workers compensation benefits in America. And the workers were in a constant battle with the California workers compensation carrier over medical treatment. The workers compensation carrier continually used the Utilization Review Procedure to cut-off the workers medical treatment. Both workers and their families were further traumatized by California's unfair workers' compensation system.After a couple of years enduring the unfair California workers' compensation system these workers and their families were barely making ends meet.The employees of Coast and Turf Painting Co. had a strong liability case against Dizzy Scaffold, ...