Case 3 - A three-day injury, a re-planked scaffold and a decision not to report
On a four-storey building site in Kisumu, a 28-year-old steel fixer fell about 2.4 m from a working platform on a scaffold when a plank shifted under him. He landed on rubble, fractured his left wrist and was taken to a private clinic. He was back on site three days later on light duties, and his employer has not reported the incident to anyone. Before the safety committee could visit, the site agent had the plank replaced, the scaffold re-planked and the area swept; he says there is “nothing to see now” and that reporting is unnecessary because the worker only lost three days and the employer paid the clinic bill. The scaffold was erected two weeks earlier by two of the site’s general labourers; there is no handover tag, no inspection record, and no evidence that the injured worker was trained for work at height. Two other workers were on the same platform when the plank moved. The site employs 62 people.
1. Is the accident reportable? Advise the employer on the duties owed and the deadlines, and deal with the “only three days lost” argument.
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It is reportable, and the three lost days are irrelevant.
- The test is whether an accident occurred in the course of work causing injury. A 2.4 m fall with a fractured wrist plainly qualifies. The duty does not depend on the employer paying the clinic bill, or on how quickly the worker came back.
- Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2007 the employer must notify the area occupational safety and health officer: a fatal injury, or one likely to cause death, immediately and without delay; other reportable accidents within the prescribed short period (commonly seven days). Advise checking the current form and period with the area DOSHS office at the time of reporting.
- Separately, for the worker’s benefit, the accident must be reported to the Director, DOSHS, on the prescribed injury report form within seven days under the Work Injury Benefits Act, 2007, supported by the clinic’s treatment notes. Paying the bill does not discharge this.
- Enter it in the accident register/site diary the same day: name, date, time, place, injury, witnesses, treatment and days lost.
- The fact that the platform was re-planked before investigation is not a reason to delay. Report honestly that the scene was altered and preserve the replaced plank and the damaged components as evidence.
- Failure to report is an offence; concealment exposes the employer to prosecution and the worker to a lost benefit claim. The committee should minute the advice it gave, and to whom, and when.
2. Describe how the committee should investigate the incident now that the scene has been altered, and how it should analyse the causes.
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Investigate for causes, not blame, and reconstruct what can still be reconstructed.
1. People first Interview the injured worker away from the site agent while memory is fresh, then the two workers who were on the platform, the labourers who re-planked the scaffold, the person who erected it and the supervisor. Take signed, dated statements in the workers’ own words, separately, so accounts are not aligned.
2. Physical evidence Keep the plank that shifted and any cracked or split boards - do not let them go to the skip. Photograph the scaffold as it is now, the platform, and the rubble where he landed. Measure platform height, plank width and span, whether the plank was tied down, guardrail and toe-board heights, and the gap that let the plank move.
3. Documents Scaffold erection and handover records (none), weekly inspection sheets, evidence of the labourers’ competence to erect, the injured worker’s work-at-height training, toolbox talk records, PPE issue, the method statement and risk assessment for the scaffold.
4. Analysis Build a timeline to the minute - what task, what load, who moved where - then separate immediate causes (unsecured or over-spanned plank, no guardrail) from root causes (no competent erector, no handover tag, no inspection regime, production pressure, no permit to work at height, no training). A simple “5 whys” or cause tree is enough; the point is to get past “he slipped” to the system failures.
5. Report A written report to the employer with findings, recommendations, owners and dates. Note that the scene was disturbed before investigation and recommend a scene-preservation rule for the site.
Because the scene was altered, witness statements and records carry more weight than usual - that is exactly why they must be taken now.
3. Recommend the corrective actions and state how the committee would prove they worked.
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Corrective actions
- Re-erect the scaffold using a competent person and tag it: green tag for use, red tag do not use. Inspect before each shift and after any alteration or high wind.
- Provide guardrails and toe boards at every open edge. Where guardrails cannot be provided, a harness with a suitable anchor and a rescue plan - a harness alone is not a control.
- Tie and secure every plank, eliminate gaps and over-spans, and use purpose-made boards and couplers.
- Train everyone who works at height, and their supervisors; add work at height to site induction.
- Introduce a permit to work for work at height and a daily pre-use check by the user, signed.
- Record the incident and actions in the site hazard register and revise the risk assessment and method statement.
- Clear the point that the fall was 2.4 m: there is no “safe height” below which controls are optional.
How the committee proves it worked - measure the control, not the luck
- Monthly documented inspection of every scaffold on site, with photographs and a closure date for each defect.
- Count unguarded edges and untagged scaffolds found: the target is zero found, not zero reported.
- Near-miss reporting should rise and then stabilise; a fall to zero reports usually means workers have stopped reporting, not that the site is safe.
- Track “actions closed by the agreed date” as the committee’s headline number.
- Ask the two witnesses whether anything has changed in how platforms are checked.
- Re-audit in three months and minute the result.