Another Fly By Night Hack Job

Lightning Gene

Lightning Gene

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Contractor dies after 60-foot fall
By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News
Published April 20, 2012

GALVESTON — A contractor critically hurt in a 60-foot fall died Thursday.

Bryan Hunt, 19, of Houston, was pressure washing a roof at Malin International Ship Repair and Drydock, 320 77th St., in Galveston on Wednesday when he stepped onto a panel that gave way, Galveston police said.

Police, firefighters and a medical crew were called to the business shortly before 11 a.m. and learned Hunt struck his head on a table as he fell to the floor of the tall, metal building.

An ambulance crew rushed Hunt, who was in critical condition, to the University of Texas Medical Branch. Hunt died at 2:12 a.m. Thursday, said John Florence, a spokesman for the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office.

An autopsy was scheduled for either Thursday or today at the medical branch. It is believed Hunt died of blunt-force trauma.

It was unclear where Hunt was employed. A pressure washer was visible atop the metal building’s roof. The business declined requests for comment.

It also was unclear what job was under way on the rooftop. Using a pressure washer to clear debris is a common practice in preparation for painting metal roofs.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating, an agency spokeswoman said


http://galvestondailynews.com/blog/8238
 
Sad that a 19 YO kid died trying to earn a buck. Personally, I hope OSHA fines the shit out of the business for letting an unequipped and untrained young man on top of their roof just to save a few bucks that a qualified contractor would cost. The fact that he had to put the PW'er on the roof (hose length) tells me he was probably a CL lowball quote.

I wonder how many pressure washers carry fall protection on their trucks or have had any training in fall protection. I carry a full harness with shock absorbing lanyard and safety rope in the toolbox. I rarely have to use it but I have it and the OSHA training if I need it. IMHO, it's well worth the time and cost to get a 20 hour OSHA card.

For those that can't afford the $200-$400 for the classes, search for a Plant Shutdown Contractor near you and apply for a job. In most cases they maintain a list of skilled/unskilled temp's and all of them have to have OSHA training so they usually have their own in house OSHA approved training they give for free. You can pick up a harness/lanyard for $150.
 
I might have titled this post "Young Entrepreneur Dies in Unfortunate But Preventable Fall". Bless him & his family.
 
It is a loss for a family.

I hope that there is an investigation done so that if a company was at fault for not giving the kid the proper fall protection, they need to be prosecuted but after they help the kid's family and take care of things.

If they find that it was the kid's fault, they need to find out who let him up there without the fall protecton to do the job safely, someone should have known the right way to do things and should have been watching him, at least in the beginning to make sure he has the proper training, the proper fall protection, the proper equipment, etc..... for a job working at elevated heights.

Something is wrong with this accident, there should have been someone making sure that the kid was trained, had the right fall protection, knew the job scope, the roof should have been inspected for a person to be working up there safely, etc..... This accident should not have ever happened, someone did not follow procedures or let this happen out of neglect in one way or another. They will find a lot of things wrong with this job work area and I hope that they don't try to blame the kid, he should have been trained, supervised and checked on besides the proper ppe being used or not let up there at all to do the job.

Sounds like someone was trying to cut some corners to get the job done cheaper and I doubt that this was the kid's fault.

Prayers on the way for his family.
 
So sad to see this and should be an eye opener for companies looking to hire any PW company, credentials and protocol should have been discussed in detail.
Malin International Ship Repair and Drydock should have done more and supervised if protocol was being followed by the contractor.
What a shame and should be a wake-up call to all consumers looking to hire. I read on a consumer website(City Data) one homeowner suggesting to another to hire a teenager in the neighborhood to clean out gutters for them. I stepped in to remind them that if that kid falls and breaks his neck is it worth the few bucks you might save? as well as, I am sure the kids parents would have no problem suing you for everything you own. All for saving a few dollars, what a disgrace.

Kim Rousseau
 
Everything said so far has summed up the protocol proceedures that need to be in place to protect one from getting hurt or killed on the job.

For those new to roof cleaning,
You do not wash a roof with a pressure washer unless you have a death wish. A roof that is dirty is very slippery when wet. Kill the black streaks bacteria Gleoscapa Magma and the roof is no longer slippery unless it is steep.
 
Sad. Very sad. I know a guy here in town that used to be a roofing contractor who fell off a one story roof many years ago and has been a paraplegic and in a wheel chair now for over twenty something years. I also cleaned a roof for a woman a few years back who told me a story about a neighbor of hers around the corner who was doing his own roof cleaning and fell off the roof onto the pool decking below and died. Cleaning roofs is no joke.

I had a woman yesterday who we had on the books call me and cancel her roof cleaning job. She said that her two sons said that they will do it for her. Its a 4300 sq ft tile roof and very dirty. I haven't had a chance to callback yet but I am doing so this morning. Even if she decided not to use us she doesn't need to have her tyiwo kids up there trying to clean it.
 
This is so sad to see someone lose his life. I printed this out for use in our next safety meeting to show this can happen. last year alone our safety equipment has saved our guys twice from falling off high places. You need to be tied off if you are working in these areas!
 
I would like to see some videos of how to handle specific real job safety issues at heights. We limit our roof access because of the inability to tie of properly. On complicated multi-access jobs we contact OSHA and do a site safety plan to make sure we are thinking properly about our approach. Residential roofs are our biggest safety liability and we have shifted away from roof access as much as possible. Still, there are risks with even simple ladder usage. What a shame for this young man and his poor family.
 
Yup the roof cleaning business is pretty profitable. We get more for them then cleaning most houses and there all about chemical strength/usage but I posted it on another bb and since took down the pictures of doing estimates and being in the same area my guys were I stopped by and didn't like what I saw. They were cleaning a roof and one of them could have easily fell standing on the top rung of the ladder.

I've done stupid things like that in the past because of the money but it's just not worth it. That guy who was doing that is excellent at his work. He's never late, his work ethic is as good as a business owner and he takes pride in what he does. I'm lucky to have him.....but... He was told that he cannot do that anymore ever. I'd rather lose the job then see someone hurt. We have the harnesses and break away ropes which we always use on lifts. If they have to come off of the top of ladders to clean roofs they have to be tied in up there...

Makes me almost want to get out of the roof cleaning business when I saw that.
 
What is interesting is seeing roofing companies removing and then installing roofs.

So far out of about 30 years seeing roofing companies up on roofs, I have never seen any use harnesses, any kind of fall protection or any type of safety gear when up there.

What also is interesting is I have never heard of a roofer falling off a roof and getting seriously hurt or dying.

Add water to a slippery surface or step on a hose and have it roll out from under you is another thing altogether.

Years ago when I was at the refinery we had a safety meeting about a guy that fell through a steel tank roof and later died. The metal was thin on the roof and they were up there (forgot what they were doing) and when walking around one of the guys fell through the roof. Those roofs are about 1/2" thick most of the time but with time they rust and get thinner and weaker. The accident was not here, it was up near Houston if I remember correctly.

Any time someone dies as a result of an accident, it is a bad loss for their family.

I hope that safety measures are in place so nobody dies the same way again.
 
Okay, a follow up of my previous post. I called the woman this morning and explained all the dangers involved about cleaning a roof and told her a few nightmare stories. She just called me back. We are cleaning her roof Thursday. Smart woman.
 
Christopher said:
What is interesting is seeing roofing companies removing and then installing roofs.

So far out of about 30 years seeing roofing companies up on roofs, I have never seen any use harnesses, any kind of fall protection or any type of safety gear when up there.

What also is interesting is I have never heard of a roofer falling off a roof and getting seriously hurt or dying.

Add water to a slippery surface or step on a hose and have it roll out from under you is another thing altogether.

Years ago when I was at the refinery we had a safety meeting about a guy that fell through a steel tank roof and later died. The metal was thin on the roof and they were up there (forgot what they were doing) and when walking around one of the guys fell through the roof. Those roofs are about 1/2" thick most of the time but with time they rust and get thinner and weaker. The accident was not here, it was up near Houston if I remember correctly.

Any time someone dies as a result of an accident, it is a bad loss for their family.

I hope that safety measures are in place so nobody dies the same way again.
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Hey Chris in my family a few people own or owned businesses. My father owned a business, my first cousin who's one of my competitors owns a business in the Hamptons who 20x my gross(we get along fine but he did jump on one of my clients) My uncles and cousins own Tropicana routs etc. and my family is not that large.

My cousin Donna who's husband Robert owned a roofing business. He did the work and had Helpers. He fell off the roof about 15 yrs ago and broke both legs severely with one being a compound fracture. Because of that he had to hire people to do his job. Today his company is a multimillion dollar company and he never walks right. Because of all the pain meds he had to take him and my cousin had a mutual agreement to divorce. They were an awesome couple.

His fall changed everything...... He's big today in business but the cost Was huge. The one thing he did right was stop doing the physical labor because he couldn't. That's the trick to become big... And he was forced to do that... But what happened to him was he said he started to slide down a roof. He was able to turn himself around but he slid off slowly because he couldn't stop.. He was lucky to go down feet first.. But all he has today I wouldn't and I'm sure he wouldn't trade anything to be in his shoes... Roofs can be a scary business.
 
One of the biggest things I do for safety is know my limitations , there are some jobs I just wont do , its not about the money , its the job itself . The risk sometimes is not worth the reward . The first time you turn down a job you may want to second quess yourself , always go with the gut feeling . I have never fallen from a 3 story house , I turn those jobs down , unless the customer wants to pay the extra for a bucket truck or man lift . Customer once asked me if i was afraid of heights , I told him damn right I am , thats why I am careful , and thats why i am still here .
 
Great job Larry!

You might have saved one of the lady's sons life or both from falling off the roof.

Sometimes people are not thinking about the safety of the people doing the work, sometimes the focus is on saving a few dollars, not about if someone falls off the roof and gets hurt or dies. Sometimes people need someone else to point out to them the dangers involved in certain jobs as they might not be aware of the situation.
 
Christopher said:
Great job Larry!

You might have saved one of the lady's sons life or both from falling off the roof.

Sometimes people are not thinking about the safety of the people doing the work, sometimes the focus is on saving a few dollars, not about if someone falls off the roof and gets hurt or dies. Sometimes people need someone else to point out to them the dangers involved in certain jobs as they might not be aware of the situation.
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That was pretty much the situation. I told her I didn't care if she used us or not. I just didn't want ti see anyone getting hurt. Trust me. I didn't sugar coat it either. Im surprised she even called me back. Lol...
 
Larry Millette said:
That was pretty much the situation. I told her I didn't care if she used us or not. I just didn't want ti see anyone getting hurt. Trust me. I didn't sugar coat it either. Im surprised she even called me back. Lol...
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Good Job Larry. You got her thinking at least. I know I wouldn't want my kids up there for Any amount of money no matter what there ages are. One of that ladies kids fall and they don't get killed either way she'll never forgive herself because she green lighted them to be up there.
Good call!!
 
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