Before leaving the site, a tiler intended to clean his tools in an area outside the future forecourt in order not to damage the base grade. For this, he left the road area. Stepping into the future green area he tripped over the curb stone already in place and fell down on his shoulder, resulting in a shoulder dislocation. He had rehabilitation and was 3 weeks away from work.
What went wrong?
- The tiler was inattentive while walking into the green area
- He chose the wrong place to clean his tools instead of the designated waste area
- He crossed a curb stone at a place which was not designated for walking
- The green area was not barricaded due to the fact that the walkways were free and the future green area had no activity planned except gardening work
Lessons learned:
- Maintain your attentiveness
- One important task on site is to prevent and to eliminate tripping hazards
- Steps and curb stones that remain on site have the potential for trips and falls
- All involved persons have to pay the most possible attention during all phases of their work!
- This accident shows that tripping hazards at some time will lead to an incident
- When hazards cannot be eliminated, the areas should be barricaded