Roofer Dies In Fall From Germantown Home

(Germantown, TN)  It was supposed to be a typical roof resurfacing job for construction workers at a home on Coathridge Road near Farmington, but it turned into a deadly job related accident.

Edgar Babian is deputy fire chief with the Germantown Fire Department, “A male Hispanic had fallen off the roof. He fell off the roof and hit the ground.”
          
Germantown Fire Department crews were rushed to this home in hopes of reviving 52-year-old Jose Hernandez of Mexico, but he died later after being transported to a hospital.
          
The accident is the reason an Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA official was here, but investigators don’t think Hernandez’s death was heat related.

Babian said, “We got there about 8:30 this morning and it was fairly cool at that point. It wasn’t hot. He was on the shaded side of the house. So, it doesn’t appear like it was heat related.”       
      
Another construction worker told Germantown police that Hernandez had been removing shingles from the roof when a nail got caught in his boot, causing him to lose his balance even though the roof had a safety guard.
       
Hernandez suffered severe injuries to his head and broke his neck in an accident that Babian said is rare, “We get occasionally have calls, two or three a  year, but most of the time the outcome is really good, but this one is unfortunate in he didn’t survive.”

Police investigators say no charges are expected to be filed because the cause of death was accidental.