Work Experience Organisers : Case Studies from the HSE

Case study 4

This young steel erector had 18 months experience only working Saturday afternoons before he had his accident. What happened?

The young man had worked every Saturday afternoon as a steel erector for the last eighteen months. He had been instructed never to walk along the top flange of steel - but on this one occasion, he did.

A colleague asked him to fetch an item from the Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP) but he could not find the key. So, he made his own way across the top of the beam. He was knocked off balance by a projecting flange and he fell 5 metres, fracturing his foot as he landed.

Fellow workers blamed the young man himself for ignoring previous instructions and doing something that was potentially dangerous. The supervisor had also briefly left the building to fetch an extra piece of steel and so was not there when the young man had his fall.

Investigators felt that the young worker was not adequately supervised. He had managed to carry out his unsuitable actions without being seen by anyone.