RCS CLASSIC TOPIC - MAN DOWN

This topic was from ROOF DUDE a long, long time ago but these comments never lose their importance. I think it might serve as a good reminder. Perhaps make us think twice this week and avoid an injury.

It was called...

MAN DOWN

ROOFDUDE- About a month ago…Dec 30th we had an accident. One of my men was working that Saturday on a 6/12. He was running his book. Got near the top, was squatting about his work, reach back & rolled off the rake at a Dutch hip. He feel approx, 15’ hit on concrete. Fortunately he didn’t land on his head. He landed on his right arm/elbow. Needless to say, he received a broken collarbone, broken shoulder, & a shattered elbow. I met him at the hospital & it was bad. His elbow was in 15 pieces. Both collarbones clean break, shoulder was fractured bad but in place. He had 5 hrs of surgery that afternoon. He recently, last week, had another surgery, to remove his elbow & install a prosthetic elbow. His natural elbow wasn’t going together properly. In less than a week he already has some movement & feels the prosthetic was the way to go.

Personally, I believe he will make a great recovery. You would have to know the man to understand. He is one tough son of a b*tch. I didn’t mention this until now because of the OSHA Investigation that was taking place. That has now concluded. The injured man had a harness & safety line in place. He moved his line to readjust his rope and went back to work without reconnecting. The OSHA Inspector told me that in all his years, he has never had a roofing accident where the employer wasn’t at fault. The findings of his investigation where: “Employee Misconduct” No citation issued to us or even a warning. He told us this was very rare and & he was impressed with our safety program.

I bring this up to help others to be aware of the dangers of what we do. The man who fell has been with me 15 yrs. He has definitely been in much more dangerous positions than he was on this day. I had a safety meeting with the entire company & Bruce (the injured) to talk about something that most of us overlook & what I believe the cause of this accident…Complacency. Many of us are guilty of this. We forget how dangerous our environment is & when lightening strikes, it’s too late. Jacks wouldn’t have prevented what happened to Bruce. Most of us don’t think it will happen to us. Wake up…It CAN!

Bruce told me today, that he will roof again…SOON! If anyone can come back from an injury like this he can. I told him he would have a place in this company no matter what his capabilities are. Hell, he’s been here since day 1, well…Day 100. Please be careful guys. It is amazing how much your life can change in the blink of any eye, when you take for granted your environment & let your “experience”, or lack of respect for the roof bite you. As most of us know, the roof isn’t very forgiving. The ground, much like aircraft is very unforgiving of incompetence & arrogance.

REPLIES-

COPPERMAN- Glad to hear he is recovering. Both my falls were due to a lapse of vigilance. In a split second you are brought back to reality but then it’s too late, inertia had taken over. Glad to hear you did your part and were cleared.

DR. ROOF- It is amazing how much your life can change in the blink of an eye. Isn’t that the truth. I hope your man heals up real well.

TINNER- Sorry to hear it. Tell him from me that he’s correct in believing he can get back on the roof. I’ve done it many a times after being dinged pretty badly. I wasn’t able to climb the ladder yesterday, but I reached it! He will too.

AARON- Thank God it wasn’t worse. Thank God you are no jackleg. Does that finding by OSHA cause any trouble for him? Work Comp isn’t going to try to deny him or anything are they?

ROOF DUDE- No Aaron. His WC benefits do not change at all. He is receiving 2/3rds of his wages & 100% of his medical is paid. I’m sure when he is done with treatment they will likely give him a settlement for his loss as well.

MIKE H- Good story in many ways.

MAX- One of my guys fell of the roof about 2 years ago. It was a 14/12 roof, but the ground to eve height was 6 feet. He was not wearing his safety gear, and the 2x4- toe board came loose. Fell on a pile of stones. Fractured his ankle bad and had to have 6 stitches above his eye. I had to fill out a report to WC, but other than my WC premium increase, never heard from OSHA or anyone. He made a full recovery but does not work for me anymore. At what point does it take to get OSHA involved.

ROOF DUDE- You are supposed to contact them within 12 hrs of an accident, if it is serious. “Work related fatality; disabling, serious, or significant injury; A serious injury includes: amputation, fractures of major bones (both simple and compound) and hospitalization for medical treatment.” This is an exact quote off of the WC claim form. Ironically, OSHA told me on the phone that, that is how they get notified of accidents. Unless someone else calls them or the employer or employee calls them. You are in a world of chit if, you don’t file & they find out another way.

BOBBY-RD- I too have never heard of that, The OSHA guy will go over with a fine tooth comb her till he finds something. He did cut me a little break last year. I hired a guy gave him the harness and line made sure it was on him, I left and he untied the rope to go near the edge. The OSHA guy stopped and yelled ‘that harness don’t work if its not tied to you’. I don’t know what it takes to have guys follow the rules. As soon as I turn my back they take that stuff off The OSHA man told me have them sign that they have the gear and were told to use it.

TINNER- Rule is, If you’re falling, holler “I quit!”. Since he’s no longer an employee, and was in fair shape the last you saw of him. Before he quit and ‘went down’ from the job, no report is necessary. Cuts down on WC claims when claimee is not an employee.

ROOFDUDE- Well, he did give me a colonoscopy, Bobby. Inspected our safety program records, our first aid kits, the equipment that was on the job. Came by our shop to make sure the posters were up & such. It was nerve racking. I was convinced we would be cited for something. What a relief when we weren’t.

CMR Houston- I always make sure that all my guys know that if they leave the roof in any way other than the ladder, they are fired just before they hit the ground. Luckily only one accident ever…In fact I had forgotten about it until just now. Tearing shakes off a house four or five years ago and the crew chief specifically told all my guys where NOT to step. Young kid, 18 years old, thought he said to step there, and he did. Fell through the roof, attic, sheet chock and landed on the suburban in the garage. He was pretty banged up, but nothing major. Homeowner laughed about it. One of the guys stood up inside the suburban with his back on the ceiling and the dent popped right out. We replaced the sheet rock for him and he was happy. Kid couldn’t be convinced to go to the hospital…could have been much worse. Here’s to Bruce doing well in the coming months.

OTTAWA ROOFER- All I can say Roofdude that it was a good read. We all need an eye opener once in awhile. Sorry it has to come with someone else’s suffering. I’ve had my own compound fracture, not a nice thing, but when you say it happens in a blink of an eye, you’re not kidding.

It's been over 20 years since I fell from a roof! "Knock on Wood".

It happened 3 times total all in my early years as a roofer. When you get older you get a "little" wiser.

No one EVER used safety harnesses back then and around here harnesses are still rarely used.

Had the bottom walk board pop off on me one time on a 12/12 and there I went.

Stepped off the roof and onto an extension ladder that some idiot had lifted up to roof the bottom instead of sliding it over. It was an older ladder and it stayed stuck while extended even though no clamps were on any rungs.

The last time was my fault. I put 4 bundles of shingles behind a plastic pvc pipe on a 7/12 and sat on them to take a break. Turned out the pipe was connected to another pipe just below the roof deck and POW, it broke and there I went with the 4 bundles coming right in behind. I was JUST able to push out with my feet at the bottom of the roof to avoid the bundles slamming down on top of me one at a time. 4 friggin times. :woohoo:

If he was using G-Tape, he probably wouldn't have fallen. It would have warned him of the edge.

Why didn't I comment on this post? I must have been working.

Good read again. I just bid on a wall and I'll have to ascend and descend it by rope, gutter to ridge. :blink: