Deteriorated Roof Deck Systems Group Discussion

Roofer falls to his death after roof collapse Friday, March 23, 2007 By RON COLQUITT Staff Reporter A 34-year-old Mobile man on a crew replacing the roof of a gymnasium at Bishop State Community College's main campus near downtown died Thursday when the roof collapsed and he fell through the hole and hit the gym floor, officials said. Officer Eric Gallichant, a police spokesman, identified the victim as Charles Michael Lammons, who was employed by XXXXXXXXXX Roofing & Sheet Metal Contractors. The incident occurred about 7:30 a.m. The gym is part of the Fredericka G. Evans Cultural Centre on Broad Street, a building that also houses a swimming pool, classrooms and a dance studio. XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX, one of the Company owners, said Lammons had been with his company for about six months but had experience in the profession because he had worked for other roofing firms. "It's a tragic accident, and our prayers and thoughts are with the family, and that is who we want to take care of right now," McCrory said. "It... weighs heavy on our hearts and on the hearts of our employees." Police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were investigating the fatality. His sister, April Lammons, said Thursday that he was "a very devoted son and father," and doted on his 2-year-old daughter Haleigh. "He worked hard for her, he did odd jobs on the side for her. He was just very loyal to his family and friends and would do anything for them," she said.

At t time of the accident, the men had chalked lines across the existing Derbigum modified (the roof had been reroofed at some point in time since the original construction) and had cut the membrane with a knife. The man was lifting up on the membrane with a shovel to pry it up from the deck....pretty much standard removal of membrane from a lightweight deck. Only three pieces of membrane had been removed that morning. The area was adjacent to the area that had been reroofed the previous day with a layer of 3" iso and a modified 20 sheet. No equipment was being used at the time and the only equipment on the roof, to my knowledge, was a cart and a roof cutter that was not being used. Two men, reportedly, had just walked over the area in front of him. The lightweight concrete had shown some minor damage in other areas, but not any more than you might expect, with the age of the building, etc. The architect had been on the roof either one or two days before and had visually surveyed the damaged areas. This area, upon removing the membrane, must have not telegraphed a problem to those guys on the roof as one of our lead foremen would look at areas suspected, mark (circle) them with a lumber crayon and cover them with a pallet (Siplast pallets have plywood for their surface. This was not the case in this spot. There were two experienced men right in the area. One was one of our foremen and the other would have been the deceased employee. Another employee in the immediate area was not as experienced but had worked with us for quite a while and has a 10 hour OSHA card. Even though the deceased employee had only been with us for about 6 months he had worked for other roofing companies and his father is an estimator with one of our local roofing companies. He also had, in addition to our standard safety training, a 10 hour OSHA card. Almost all of our employees, have 10 hour OSHA cards. All of the individuals on the roof at the time of the accident, except one, have 10 hour OSHA cards and are experienced employees. We have not determined the cause for the failure. I would assume, since there is rusting of the metal pan, that moisture played a significant part in the deterioration. However, that is not visible unless, of course, the lightweight is removed. The area below did not obviously telegraph that to a visible examination.

Underside of Roofing Deck Top side of Roofing Deck

Hazard Recognition & Safe Work Practices Safe Work Practices: 1._____________________ 2._____________________ 3._____________________ 4._____________________ 5._____________________ 6._____________________ 7._____________________ 8._____________________ 9._____________________ Signs of Deck Fatigue: 1._____________________ 2._____________________ 3._____________________ 4._____________________ 5._____________________ 6._____________________ 7._____________________ 8._____________________ 9._____________________