Plaintiff was an HVAC Technician, who was performing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning work at commercial shopping plaza. The shopping plaza buildings were single-story in height, and had exterior fixed ladders for access to the roof. At the time of the accident, the Plaintiff was utilizing one of the exterior fixed ladders to access the heating / ventilation / air-conditioning equipment up on the roof. The Plaintiff fell at the upper portion of the fixed ladder, where the ladder was designed and built such that the upper portion was bent outwards at an angle (in violation of the Building Codes).

Plaintiff contended that the bent configuration of the ladder contributed to the Plaintiff's fall by causing the Plaintiff's body positioning to contort and be thrown off balance. The ladder was also defective relative to uneven spacing between the ladder rungs and the greater than 12" distance between the rungs in non-conformance to Uniform Building Codes.

The Defendants argued that the condition of the ladder was open and obvious. The Defendants also contended that any of the risks claimed by the Plaintiff were apparent, and yet the Plaintiff chose to use the ladder, without objection.

WEXCO's Construction Accident Analysis Team was retained as the Safety & Construction Expert relative to:

• Evaluation of the safety of the subject scaffold regarding conformance with applicable Codes, Regulations, and industry standards.
• Analysis relative to the roles and responsibilities of the General Contractor and the Project Owner in comparison with contractual obligations and the standards within the industry.
• Evaluation of the Plaintiff's actions relative to safe worker conduct.