Construction worker killed in fall failed to secure harness; company pays $1,350 penalty

A worker who fell 54 feet to his death last summer at a West Broad Village construction site in western Henrico County had been standing on an unsupported step ladder and failed to secure a safety harness he was wearing, a state investigation found.Documents released this month show that Tri State Erectors Inc. of Oxford, N.C., paid a $1,350 penalty for what the state Department of Labor and Industry termed a serious violation of safety regulations pertaining to ladders.

Serious violations can bring as much as a $7,000 penalty, but state officials agreed to reduce a proposed $2,250 penalty because the company quickly corrected the ladder violation and cooperated with the state's investigation, according to documents obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Tri State had been penalized $2,275 in late 2007 at a job in Sandston where the company violated fall protection and ladder safety regulations, according to investigative summaries.

But in the West Broad Village accident, state investigators did not cite the company for the worker's failure to secure his safety harness, which protects workers from falls.

The department said there was no violation because the company demonstrated it had an active safety program to train employees and policies requiring the use of fall protection systems at all times."

Mathew "Mat" Paul Hawf, 25, of Liverpool, Ill, died July 29 from massive head injuries after falling from the fifth floor of the Aloft Hotel as he and another worker were placing a concrete, hollow-core slab above them. He was wearing a safety harness that went over his shoulders and between his legs, but a lanyard was not secured to an anchor point where he was working.

Labor Department documents obtained by the Times-Dispatch do not discuss why Hawf failed to secure himself.

"There was a place for the victim to tie-off to while he was on the ladder," the department said in response to a question, "although it is not clear why the victim was not tied off. No one saw the victim in the moment he fell."

Tri State did not respond to a request for comment.

"The employee apparently lost his balance and fell from the 4th step of the ladder over the guard rail, landing on the concrete floor below," the report states.

Records showed that Hawf had received safety training in a broad range of matters, including fall prevention and securing ladders.

The penalty was reduced to $1,350 from $2,250 after Thomas Rozman, a DOLI regional director, complimented the company for quickly correcting the ladder deficiency and for cooperation during the inspection.

Federal and state records show that ladder and inadequate fall prevention plans are annually among the top three leading safety violations nationwide on construction sites.

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .