On September 19, 2023, a fall from height accident occurred at the demolition and restoration project site of Maozhou River No. 1 and No. 3 Sediment Treatment Plant and Temporary Loading Point in Bitou Community, Songgang Street, Bao'an, resulting in one death and a direct economic loss of 1.27 million yuan.
Overview of the unit where the accident occurred and related units
(1) Labor unit for the demolition of temporary board houses: Xie (male, 42 years old, from Guiyang County, Hunan Province) is the person in charge of the individual construction team
(2) Temporary board house demolition construction unit: Shenzhen Hangcheng Construction Engineering Co., Ltd
(3) PowerChina Port & Shipping Construction Co., Ltd
(4) PowerChina Ecological Environment Group Co., Ltd
(5) Shenzhen Shenshui Water Consulting Co., Ltd
How the accident happened
At about 7:30 on October 19, 2023, Xie organized four workers to arrive at the gate of the project site to wait, and then together with Cai Mougui (entrusted by Cai Mouchao to dock with the personnel of Hangcheng Company) to enter the construction site of the project department and prepare for the demolition of the temporary board room. At about 8 o'clock, the safety officer of Hangcheng Company confirmed the power outage of the board room involved on the spot and informed the demolition team involved that the demolition work could be carried out. According to the internal division of labor among the team members, Xie was responsible for working on the second floor of the board house involved (see Figure 1), Ouyang (an eyewitness) was responsible for working on the roof of the board house, and the rest of the personnel were working on the first floor of the board house. At about 9 o'clock, Xie was standing on a self-made metal herringbone ladder and used a crowbar to remove the nails of the drainage groove when his center of gravity suddenly became unstable and fell off the herringbone ladder, and then fell from the discharge port on the second floor to the ground on the first floor and was injured (see Figure 2).
Figure 1 Before the incident, the doors and windows on the second floor of the prefabricated house had been removed as discharge ports, and there were no safety protection measures
Figure 2 The position of the worker before the fall
Figure 3 The scene simulates the workers involved with their feet on both sides of a herringbone metal ladder at the time of the incident
Analysis of the cause of the accident
Through the investigation of the accident scene, The personnel were questioned and it was determined that the direct cause of the accident was: the workers of the individual construction team dismantled the doors and windows on the second floor of the board house involved as the discharge port, and did not take safety protection measures at the edge of the discharge port; Xie had a weak sense of safety, and without taking effective safety protection measures, he took the risk of erecting the herringbone ladder (and standing on the herringbone ladder and using a crowbar to dismantle the operation) at the discharge port where no safety protection measures were set, and accidentally fell from the herringbone ladder to the ground on the second floor due to the instability of the center of gravity, and then fell from the discharge port to the ground on the first floor and was injured.
(1) Analysis of direct causes
1. No safety protection measures were taken at the edge of the discharge port on the second floor of the board house, and the high risk of falling was easy to occur when the workers involved erected the herringbone ladder at the discharge port for demolition operations.
2. Xie had a weak sense of safety, so he took the risk of erecting the herringbone ladder at the edge of the discharge port without taking safety protection measures and standing on the herringbone ladder using a crowbar to dismantle the operation, and accidentally fell from the herringbone ladder due to the instability of the center of gravity during the operation, resulting in an accident.
(2) Accident-related inspection, testing and appraisal The appraisal opinion of the "Judicial Appraisal Opinion" (Yuenan [2023] Sick Jian Zi No. 46) issued by Guangdong Nantian Judicial Appraisal Institute: The deceased Xie was in line with the severe head injury caused by a high fall, resulting in acute central respiratory and circulatory failure and died.
(3) Indirect causes
1. Hangcheng Company did not provide adequate safety education and training for the demolition construction team, failed to ensure that the workers had the necessary knowledge of safety production, and failed to take technical and management measures to eliminate in a timely manner the hidden dangers of production safety accidents caused by the workers working in violation of regulations and risky operations without taking safety protection measures.
2. Huang, the project manager of Hangcheng Company, failed to conscientiously perform his duties of safety production, failed to seriously supervise and inspect the safety production work, and promptly eliminated the hidden dangers of production safety accidents in which workers violated regulations and risked operations without taking safety protection measures.