# Construction Accident



## DadF (May 5, 2004)

I know it's not tree care related but there is still a head's up message in here.
We (my volunteer fire dept) responded to a construction accident call yesterday of a roofer falling 30' onto concrete. To make a long story short the worker had a full body harness on with a shockcord hookup line that we had to cut off before we could load his paralized body on to the ambulance. I checked before I left and was amazed to find that there were still 4 guys on the roof and all had full body harnesses on with the shock cord hookup strap thrown over their shoulder!!!! Here was a full crew all suited up to work and be safe yet no one was bothering to hookup to a safety line!!!! Needless to say the rest of my day was spent in total wonder in the stupidity that has ruined a young man's life.
The message here is that all the safety equipment in world will not work if it's not hooked up. I know we all have it so lets be safe and use it correctly.


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## DadF (May 5, 2004)

Just heard this AM that he's paralized from the nipples down, has a ruptured liver, punctured lung, crushed shoulder and various arterial bleeds that were fixed when they removed the spleen.


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## matthias (May 5, 2004)

I've worked on construction sites where everyone has to wear 5 point harnesses and only a quarter of them tie-off.  On jobsites it seems to be a constant battle for safety to get these guys to comply. You almost have to threaten their job security to make it sink in. To quote a foreman of mine: "Tie off or f**k off."


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## NeTree (May 18, 2004)

Excellent post, DadF.

matthias, well put.

Good case for "The number one piece of safety gear is between your ears."


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