Worker Claims Scaffolding Caused Fall From Ladder

According to a man from Houston, Texas, he suffered personal injuries as the result of a scaffold installation at a Texas City plant causing him to slip and fall from a ladder two years ago.

Gary Zella has filed suit against T.P.I.S. Insulation Services LLC and Calpine Corp. in Texas’ Galveston County District Court for the four-foot plunge at the Calpine Texas City Power Generation Plant on March 3, 2007, which caused him to suffer injuries to various parts of his body.

According to the suit filed on March 2 by Zella, he was climbing a permanent ladder on the west side turbine enclosure on the premises when one of the rungs was shielded by a loose scaffold board reportedly set up by T.P.I.S.

The suit alleges that the scaffold caused Zella to fall from the ladder onto the grating below, where he suffered injuries to his hip, shoulder, head, and other parts of his body. He immediately sought medical attention.

According to the original petition, it was determined by a physician in the Austin, Texas area that Zella had suffered a cervical disc herniation, a sprain of the right hip, a laceration of the left ear, and a contusion of the left side of the neck and shoulder.

The suit says that an investigation was subsequently conducted by Zella’s employer, Atlantic Plant Maintenance, which determined the accident to have been caused by scaffold boards located too close to the ladder rungs Zella was required to use.

The suit alleges negligence on the part of T.P.I.S. for failure to properly design the scaffold, failure to build the scaffold farther apart to the ladder, and failure to adequately mark the scaffold boards obstructing the ladder.