"falling approximately six meters from a roof..."

 

The hazard associated with working on a factory roof is many times overlooked. We pray that this tragedy will be used to prevent a recurrence.

A 58-year-old man died one morning during the last week of July 2024, after he suffered a fall from the roof of a steel and aluminum company, because the tile on which he was standing broke, so he ended up falling from a height of around six meters.

The victim was identified as (name omitted) who was engaged in repairs, various trades and construction work in the country, after migrating from his place of origin due to the situation of uncertainty there.

According to the report of the witnesses of the events, the foreigner got on there because he had to repair some leaks. However, the tile on which he stood did not support his weight, so he was left lying on the ground receiving a strong blow to the head that took his life immediately, so no one could do anything to save his life.

The members of the Metropolitan Police of (location name omitted) went to the scene to verify the situation and confirmed that the victim of this fatal accident died immediately, so the presence of the (coroner) personnel was required to carry out the respective removal of the body for its subsequent technical inspection.

In the same way, it was established that the administrators of the company contacted (name omitted), with whom the agreement was made to carry out the repair work, while Martín Eliécer Granados Chirino, now deceased, served as his assistant.

"He was hired to carry out some repairs to adjust the roof due to some leaks and without having agreed, Carlos went up in the company of the victim. Around 8:55 a.m. a rumble was heard and that is when this person fell from the height of the ceiling to the floor," specified the report of the authorities, quoted by the local media Vanguardia.

According to the first reports of the technical team that was present at the scene, the citizen suffered severe head trauma, in addition to other injuries that compromised his life.

The body was transferred to the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences in (location name omitted), where it is being checked and then delivered to his loved ones for funeral honors.

Meanwhile, the authorities continue to work on the collection of information and all kinds of evidence to verify what happened to determine the responsibilities that may arise.

As for the victim, in addition to confirming that he was a Venezuelan citizen, it was indicated that he lived in the (nearby) neighborhood, located in the municipality of (name omitted), and that he worked in this type of construction and repair work to survive.

We pray for the deceased worker’s family, friends, and coworkers. We note that the worker is not from the country where he died. We pray that his body is transferred promptly to his home country to be with his relatives.

It appears that there were two workers on the roof. The deceased worker did not have a safety harness on at the time of his incident. We do not know if the other worker had a safety harness on or not. Obviously, anyone that goes on a roof needs to wear a safety harness and it needs to be properly secured.

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