Worker Dies After Taking off Safety Harness

At 36, Eder Morales was in the prime of his life. We don’t know much about Morales, except that he died young. Too young.

What are the odds of one of your workers dying after temporarily removing his safety harness 25 feet (7.6 meters) above the ground?

Morales met that fate in an accident that many might describe as freak – sort of like removing your seatbelt for a few seconds to take your coat off and becoming involved in a crash that you would have survived had you been buckled in.

What happened:

Morales had been welding support beams at a warehouse construction site (in Pompano Beach, FL) when he apparently needed to get closer to a joist. He temporarily removed his safety harness and was standing on a beam when a forklift below hit the beam, causing him to lose his balance and fall.

Although he had been wearing a hardhat, he died of massive head and internal injuries.