Connectors Pay With Lives for Failure to Wear Fall Protection

Case 1: Two connectors were erecting lightweight steel I-beams on the third floor of a 12-story building, 54 feet above the ground. One employee removed a choker sling from a beam and then attempted to place the sling onto a lower empty hook on a series of stringers. While the crawler tower crane was booming away from the steel, the wind moved the load line and stringer into the beam on which the employee was standing. The beam moved while the employee was trying to disengage the hook, and he fell to his death.  Case 2: Two steelworkers were setting beams on a steel erection project. One of them was installing a cross beam at the third level of a stair structure. According to his co-worker, he stepped onto the beam that had just been put into place and fell backward in a vertical position. He tried to catch the beam, but was unable to maintain a grasp. He then fell slightly forward and struck the beam immediately below, causing his body to assume a horizontal position until he hit the ground. He had fallen a total of 35 feet, and was killed.  Case 3: An employee was working on a steel erection 23 feet above the ground. He was instructed by the foreman to go to a connection at the eastern part of the building and start torquing the bolts there. The employee went to the area and, while working, slipped and fell to his death. He was not wearing a safety belt and lifeline when tightening bolts, nor were his co-workers.