Young Roofer falls to his death

A young roofer ( laborer) was priming some eave drip on a 7/12 roof, this was on new construction job the fall was around 30' . It was learned that there were safety vests laying on the ground and the young man declined wearing one. This is a lesson to every roofer if you have the safety equipment on the job use it. I will see if I can find out more information and post it, since the accident just happened.

A little more info and company name.

ORCHID — A roofing employee died Tuesday after a 30-foot fall from a building under construction, the Indian River County Sheriff's Office said.

The Sheriff's Office Wednesday identified the 22-year-old roofer as Elfer Godines. His date of birth and address were not available, Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jeff Luther said.

The accident happened in the 700 block of Grove Place, Orchid, at 9 a.m., the Sheriff's Office said. Godines worked for Intercoastal Roofing Solutions of Vero Beach.

BTW...My condolences to the family.

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Posted: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 2:27 pm | Updated: 3:33 pm, Tue May 8, 2012.

Eileen Kelley | 0 comments

Posted on May 8, 2012

by Eileen Kelley

Maybe this one, story dated 5/8/12

ORCHID ISLAND — A young man working on a roof on Grove Place in the Town of Orchid fell to his death this morning.The man had been amongst a group of roofers who were re-doing the roof on a multi-million dollar home.

The Indian River County Sheriff's Office and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

I think egg meant in the way that I intended Rdog

Huh? what are you implying,egg? He jumped. No way. Alright Spudder, we need more info on this guy. where did you get this story from?

I'm with Twill, in the sense that I believe he intended.

spudder: do you have anymore info on this young man's death. soldierboy and twill: you're right. Hopefully lots of money for this guy. Agreed, how the hell do you tell the family? It might have been his family. roof_dawg: listen up to this stuff. It's the law, if their not working safe? That's why they call them accidents. You don't know when they are going to roll an ankle on a hose, trip on a wrapper or step on a cap nail and then....Fuc.... would you train your kid, to not, take herion or crack because you know the damage it would cause....you must do your due dilgence. wywoody: I think it might even be a manslaughter charge if it's willful.

In many states, a willfull violation that leads to a fatality leads to a felony charge on the owner. I'd be interested in knowing if that was the case here.

If this story is true, then it has much much much more to do with stupidity than with safety

Our prayers go out to this young man and his family! What a sad day for our industry. What makes this story harder to choke down is that ANYTHING above 6' requires a fall protection. Safety lines, guard railing or a safety net. Toe boards alone don't work anymore for fall protection. I have been preaching this since late last year. The fines start at $7,500.00 and can go up from there. If the fines don't scare you, think of how you will have to explain a death to the wife, kids or parents to one of your employees. This is terrible news for sure!

"I see the need for the devices, and I have them in the work trailer. As long as my crew works safely and use boards as necessary, I will not enforce them."

Of course you understand they are required by OSHA to be worn, don't you? That law is in effect and the fines can be high. You might be looking at lot of $$$$ grief in your ner future. Just saying. There is no seperation between resi rules and commercial rules anymore.

The only metal DE we've ever primed on a roof is the DE we instll on EPDM, etc. nd the surrounding rea also needs priming. Something weird there.

Rockydog: You'd be right. 4/12 single story, I should have paid more attention.

I see the need for the devices, and I have them in the work trailer. As long as my crew works safely and use boards as necessary, I will not enforce them.

I have a hard time understanding the thought prosess of going out to the edge of a 30' roof on a 7/12 and not being tied off. it would be bad enough on a 1 story. We have a lot of scaffold and we use it on most jobs. I do not want any of my guys to be hurt and I don't want to get hurt myself. Tell me this, if it had been 150 feet in the air, would he have been tied off? It makes it hard for all of us that try and think and work safely to have this type of thing happen. The inspectors will come after us because they can't find the "independant" chuckinatruck guys. If they did, there would be nothing to assess a fine to anyway. It is a no win situation.

My condolences to his family, but it sounds like a stupid bit of macho. What did Clint Eastwood say, "dying is not much of a living"

My prayers go out to this youngman's family. May he rest forever in Roofer's Heaven. Leave's me with some questions.... Priming edge metal on a 7/12, 30" in the air? why? why not prime it before it goes on. Where was his supervisor or boss to enforce his wearing his PPE. Sure, it's his decision but I would have put him in a less dangerous position if he refused. That's like saying, " F---him, if he doesn't want to wear it, what do I care". I am going to assume it was a chuckinthetruck operation, maybe even family.... What a shame! Where can I read about this? Is anyone doing anything to help the family? Send me more info, please Roof_dawg, so you bounced right back up and went to work, with your PPE? probably not....

That is tragic. But other than make him more visible when he fell, what good would the safety vest have been?

That's tragic. I'm thankful(and we are all lucky) it doesn't happen more often. We walk around 7/12's like it can't happen. I've NEVER seen anybody wear a harness in this area. Being that tall, we would have used toeboards, though.

I had a wake up call this Monday myself. Jumped from a 1 story 4/12 down to a porch, landed on the guard rail which broke and then I hit my ass. I only jumped because I had the opportunity to go feet first. Luckily, I bounced up got back to work even harder. Sore in the morning was I! First time....32 hours of being married and I try to end it all.

Ok, curiosity got to me, what type of roof system was it?