Giampolini & Co.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Apr 7, 2008 (fatal): Employee is injured in fall from ladder, later dies

At approximately 9:20 a.m. on April 7, 2008, an employee was working as a painte r, caulker, and cleaner, performing exterior restoration work on an old eight-st ory building. The foreman and superintendent were standing on the deck of the ca nopy, modular system. The wide canopy was to cover the sidewalk providing overhe ad protection for the pedestrians walking below in a busy downtown street corner . It also served as a landing platform for the suspended scaffold that was in us e by employees. An extension ladder was set-up in place to access the canopy. Th e bottom of the ladder was close to the curb of the sidewalk. The employee was o n his way down from the 20-ft high canopy by way of the extension ladder. The em ployee had just gotten onto the ladder to begin his descent. The employee fell a pproximately 18 feet as he bounced off the ladder and into the street. A coworke r who was working from the suspended scaffold saw the employee on the street and shouted to the foreman. The foreman, who was also a volunteer firefighter, imme diately went down to the street to administer first-aid and rescue evaluation to the employee until the paramedics arrived at the scene. The employee was taken by ambulance to SF General Hospital, where he was treated and died later that we ek.