[DiamondSmiles]

BuzzWorthy.com

November 3, 2014

One Pound Tape Measure Falls 50 Stories, Kills Man

A man was killed by a falling tape measure in Jersey City, officials said Monday. According to Philly.com, the man was working on a construction site when the freak accident occurred.

Gary Anderson, 58, was delivering drywall to the site this morning when he was hit with a tape measure that had fallen off the belt of a construction worker who had been on top of the high rise. The 1 pound tape measure fell 50 stories, striking the man on the ground.

“The tape measure hit another piece of metal construction equipment 15 feet off the ground, then ricocheted and hit this man in the head,” said Jersey City’s public safety spokeswoman Carly Baldwin.

Mr. Anderson was not wearing a hard hat at the time of the incident. Generally, all construction sites of this nature are gated off with signs that read “hard hat area.” It’s unknown if that was the case on this site.

The man killed by the falling tape measure was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest. He died shortly thereafter.

According to ABC 6, Anderson stopped at another man’s truck to chat when the incident occurred. It sounds like he really was in the wrong place at the wrong time. As with many accidents of this nature, there are a lot of questions being asked… and a lot of “what ifs?”

“A Police Report listed Anderson as working for Charlotte, North Carolina based National Gypsum. A spokeswoman for the company said he was delivering National Gypsum’s product at the time of the accident but was employed by an independent trucking company.”

Freak accidents happen quite a bit and are completely unpredictable. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, a Chicago woman was killed in September when a gargoyle fell from the roof of a church and hit her in the head. A, “sudden gust of wind,” was blamed for the dislodging of the gargoyle.

As for the man killed by the falling tape measure, OSHA is currently investigating. While you might think that something so small as a tape measure couldn’t possible cause such a reaction, you’d be wrong.

According to, How Stuff Works, small items that fall from high areas, like buildings, can be extremely dangerous.

“The grain of truth embedded in this urban legend is the fact that falling objects — even ones that seem harmless — can do a lot of damage. That’s why people on construction sites wear hard hats.”

Mr. Anderson’s hard hat was in his truck.

[Photo courtesy of Coyau / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0]

[Kelseecat65]

[tbone79]

That sounds like it came out of a Final Destination movie
or
"Hello everyone. I'm Tim the Toolman Taylor and ehhhh....""...

[St. Geno]

safety first

[niknik]

I'm sure huge fines will follow. It's basically the law as far as insurance and work site regulation goes. You must wear a hard hat at all times on a work site.

[FunkPumpkin]

Shit, I wear a hard hat whenever I'm ground-assisting my brother with the loader on his tractor! I once saw my younger brother almost get his head smashed by said-loader years ago. After that, I always wear a hard hat when working around loaders/backhoes/etc...

... and I always bring a spare for someone working with me who doesn't have one.

[DiamondSmiles]

Shit! My photos are gone! I need to switch computers!

Not graphic, but, the site. I'm still trying to locate a photo of the victim.

Could you all see them? They're here now and were showing when I went to re-add them.

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by St. Geno ↗

safety first

My favorite hardhat wearing worker of all time!

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by FunkPumpkin ↗

Shit, I wear a hard hat whenever I'm ground-assisting my brother with the loader on his tractor! I once saw my younger brother almost get his head smashed by said-loader years ago. After that, I always wear a hard hat when working around loaders/backhoes/etc...

... and I always bring a spare for someone working with me who doesn't have one.

You have to. There is a country singer, Travis Tritt, who did a song called, "Here's a Quarter Call Someone Who Cares."

Assholes starting throwing quarters at him. He got hit in the face and bled so he started putting something on the stage and made it into a donation box for their quarters.

A small object with some velocity behind it can do a lot of damage, as we've learned from this incident, for those who didn't already know.

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by niknik ↗

I'm sure huge fines will follow. It's basically the law as far as insurance and work site regulation goes. You must wear a hard hat at all times on a work site.

Well, it was in his truck!

He made the mistake, not the company for whom he worked. Human error gone very wrong for him.