Police report reveals details on construction worker's death

Editor's note: This story was originally published on April 1, 2016.

A police report on the death of a construction worker who fell from a fifth-floor balcony contains witness reports of the March 24 accident.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an investigation into the death of Josh Halphin, 25, who was employed as a painter by RF Barratt Enterprises, LLC.

According to the police report, Halphin and two other employees of Barratt Enterprises were instructed to move several 5-gallon buckets of white paint to the fifth floor by hand.

From the report, it’s not clear why workers instead used a forklift to raise paint buckets stacked on top of a wooden pallet to a balcony.

Police did not see railing or safety equipment on the balcony, according to the report.

A witness told police he believes the workers may have retrieved too much paint from one side of the pallet, causing the pallet to tilt and break.

Witnesses reported hearing Halphin yell “Don’t tilt it!” followed by a loud noise immediately before he fell.

Police said Halphin had at least one foot on the pallet to retrieve more buckets when it flipped.

Halphin fell five stories to the ground, alongside paint buckets and a broken wooden pallet.

Greene County Medical Examiner Tom Van De Berg told police that Halphin suffered major head trauma and possibly suffered a broken neck.

An attorney representing Barratt Enterprises released a statement this week that said while Halphin and the two other workers were employed by Barratt, they were being directed at the time of the accident by an employee of Sherman-Williams, a paint supplier.

The attorney said Barratt Enterprises intended for the painters to carry the buckets up an enclosed stairway but that a Sherwin-Williams employee instead told them a forklift would be used to hoist the paint buckets to a balcony.

“Halphin and the other painters were new to the job and they did not have safety training for working at heights,” according to the Barratt Enterprises statement.

Sherwin-Williams spokesman Mike Conway told the News-Leader his company has no comment at this time while the matter remains under investigation.

OSHA spokeswoman Rhonda Burke said investigators are exploring all avenues. If warranted, she said OSHA could issue fines to either Barratt Enterprises, Sherwin-Williams or both.

“It would be part of the investigation to determine who was responsible for the safety violations that occurred,” said Burke. “If the worker is employed by Barratt, then Barratt is responsible for the safety of their worker.”