Manager Falls to Death From I-beam

In an attempt to dislodge some wood on a conveyor belt, a manager at a wood products plant in Maine walked out onto an I-beam. It was the last mistake he ever made.

Monte Jackson, 53, died after falling 10 feet (three meters) and hitting his head on the concrete floor at Cousineau Wood Products Inc. in North Anson, ME. According to reports, Jackson climbed onto a catwalk and then crossed onto an I-beam in order to dislodge a wood jam on the belt. He apparently lost his balance and fell.

Safety isn’t just what you tell someone else to do. It’s what you do yourself as a supervisor or manager.

These precautions can prevent similar fatalities:

  • Lock and tag the machine. No machine should ever be serviced while it’s running.
  • Not working from heights unnecessarily If the machine had been off, it might have been possible to fix the jam from ground level.
  • Fall protection: Falls have killed people who were working only two feet off the ground. Anything over head height definitely requires fall protection and appropriate training.

Source: Kennebec Journal, Maine, September 2006