Date of incident: May 2020
Notice of incident number: 2020178740006
Employer: Roofing company

Incident summary
A crew was re-roofing a service station. One of the workers was crawling into the roof truss space to relocate a plumbing vent. In the process he fell through the metal soffit (the underside) of the roof to a concrete walkway in front of the service station store. He sustained serious injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Worker fell while working at height without fall protection. To relocate a plumbing vent stack, the worker was working within the truss space. He was using a fall arrest system. He left the space to get a connection piece, and when he returned, he did not don fall protection (which he’d been using previously) before crawling back into the truss space. He lost his balance and fell 4.8 m to the ground, sustaining serious injuries.

Contributing factors

• Work procedures changed without approval. The employer had specific safe work procedures for moving plumbing vent stacks. It required the work to be done from the roof, where guardrails provided fall protection. The worker was having difficulty reaching this particular stack from the roof surface and instead cut through the roof so he could position himself among the trusses, where fall arrest equipment was necessary. This change of plan was not discussed with the worksite superintendent.
• Inadequate support. The piece of plywood the worker placed across the truss chords as a tool platform was only 16 mm thick and was cut in a way that contributed to it breaking when his weight was applied to it as he re-entered the truss space. As a result, the worker lost his balance and fell to the ground.

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