Construction Expert Opines On Condition Of Collapsed Deck

Case Overview

This case involves a woman from Arkansas who fell off a ladder. The woman was washing the windows on the second floor of her house without any supervision. The ladder was stationed on top of her composite wood deck and she leaned the ladder against the roofline. She was on the ladder for only a few minutes and completed her work without any issues. As she was making her way down the ladder, several of the deck planks collapsed. The ladder slipped and the woman fell from a height of approximately 21 feet. She suffered head injuries, a concussion, and was rendered paralyzed from the neck down. It was alleged that the defective boards gave out due to the weight of the ladder and the woman. An expert in construction and engineering was sought to inspect the deck material and opine on its condition.

Questions to the Occupational Health and Safety expert and their responses

Please describe your background in deck construction, ladder safety, and/or engineering.

My background is in engineering and human factors, and I am an engineer licensed in a southern state. My human factors master's thesis was based on ladder safety and usage and I have published on the subject. My research in ladder standards and safety would allow me to rule that out as a contributing factor.

How would you determine what caused the composite wood to crack?

My initial thought is that this definitely sounds like both an engineering issue and a human factors issue. It would be highly unusual for a composite deck board to fail under the load of a ladder with a worker on it. An examination of the composite material would need to be performed to determine if it was defective, improperly fastened, improperly cut/installed, or overloaded. The overload condition is more likely if it was over-spanned and designed poorly, or in conjunction with one of the other conditions listed above. The examination and analysis would be visual in nature, also based on engineering calculations, and possible laboratory testing, if required. The manufacturer of the material should be verified and exemplary material obtained if necessary and available. If this is simply a composite deck board failure, it should be fairly simple. However, other contributing factors also need to be considered and ruled out such as the actions of the worker and the usage of the ladder.

About the expert

This highly qualified expert has over 25 years of experience in civil engineering and human factors. He earned his BS in civil engineering from The Citadel and his MS in applied psychology and human factors from Clemson University. He is a licensed professional engineer and a certified roof consultant. He is also an active member of several professional organizations, including the Roof Consultants Institute, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and the American Society of Testing & Materials. He previously served as a civil and structural engineer for the Charleston Naval Shipyard, as a project manager at Life Cycle Engineering, and as a consulting engineer at Kimley-Horn and Associates, Alan O. Campbell, PE, Inc., and Campbell, Schneider and Associates. This expert is currently a consulting engineer at a civil engineering firm in South Carolina.

E-001121

Specialties:

Occupational Health and Safety