Developing and implementing a comprehensive managed fall protection program is the most effective method to: • Identify, evaluate and eliminate (or control) fall hazards through planning • Ensure proper training of personnel exposed to fall hazards • Ensure proper installation and use of fall protection and rescue systems • Implement safe fall protection and rescue procedures
Review each point individually and explain that key words used in the presentation such as “hazards” and “controls “ will be clearly defined in just a few minutes, so that we all mean exactly the same thing when we use these key words. (These definitions are also contained in the reference guide that all supervisors will receive for future reference and use). TRANSITION: “Now that we have an idea of what JSAs are about, let’s review the benefits of applying the use of JSAs in a systematic way...”
Many people will need retraining on fall arrest as they first wear it.
Guardrails Strength = 200 lbs Top rail height = 42 inches +/- 2 inches Mid-rail height = Halfway. Covers 2 times rated load. Min 200 pounds.
Many falls in holes occur in areas that are dimly lit. People have picked up plywood covering a hole and then fall through a hole.
A fall with a 30 inch webbing can be over 2000 lbs of force to the body.
A travel restraint system limits travel in such a manner that the user is not exposed to a fall hazard. Travel restraint systems are only permitted on a walking/working surface with a slope of between 0 and 18.4 degrees. See ANZI Z359 standards for more guidance.
The use of Y-lanyards is recommended vs. two single lanyards to a D-ring.
Anchorages should be 5000 lbs. The anchorage strength can be twice the maximum fall arrest force but a Qualified person has to know the fall forces involved. Manufacturers for fall arrest equipment can assist through testing to determine an individuals fall arrest force.
Belts for fall arrest were prohibited in 1995 OSHA rule 1926.502.
Most fall arrest can be engineered to limit fall forces under 900 pounds.
Energy Absorbing lanyards must not be reused after a fall or any presence of damage.
See ANSI Z359.4-2007 Safety Requirements for Assisted-Rescue and Self-Rescue Systems, Subsystems and Components
Employees were working from an outrigger scaffold approximately 15 feet from ground level. Employees were installing a 2 x 8 wooden beam when they lost their balance and fell to ground level. Employees did not have fall protection. Employees #1 and #2 were installing vinyl siding while working 25 feet high from a pump jack scaffold . The platform the employees were standing on was not secured to the support bracket with the supplied safety chains. The platform slipped from the support bracket, causing both employees to fall to the ground. Employee #1 died the following day from a severe head injury. Employee #2 received minor injuries
July 8, 2009 employee sustained serious occupational injuries, when he fell from temporary platform, from approximately 20 feet onto concrete. At the time of accident the injured was helping his coworker to remove a temporary platform 2'X6' planks, at the North tower elevator shaft. When he stepped onto the plank which broke and he fell 20 feet onto the elevator pit floor.
The three-man crew was repointing a chimney on the roof of the 3-story multi-family residence. A tubular welded frame scaffold, built 5 tiers high, was used for access and for a material and equipment staging area. The victim was climbing the frames of the tubular welded frame scaffold to access the roof when he became physically distressed, according to an eye-witness. The man dismounted from the climb and got onto an intermediate platform to rest. The witness said that the victim then bent over, rested his arm on the horizontals of the end frame, and collapsed. He fell from the platform, which was not equipped with any fall protection.
12-11-09 The employee fell from a scaffold ladder and landed on the steel floor approximately 25 feet below, sustaining injuries which included a broken right arm, broken right elbow, broken pelvis, and three fractured ribs.
December 17, 2001, three employees were injured when the supporting metal bracket of a scaffold pulled loose from the wall. The three employees fell 16 ft 4in. to the ground. All three employees sustained fracture injuries and received medical attention at the hospital.
September 26, 2009, the employee, performing painting activities on a fire department building, fell 15 feet to his death while on a step ladder positioned upon a scaffold.
Ladders come when several warnings that users should be trained on before use. Many falls occur when a worker leans past the side rails to reach further. The ladder then shifts or falls causing the worker to fall. On Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at approximately 1647 hours, a technician (EE#1) was in the process of installing an internet cable drop at a customer home. EE#1 was about to attach a "P" hook at the corner of the house and was placing his 28' extension ladder against the house, but it was too long and placed it at an angle from the house and extending it onto the driveway adjacent to the home. The ladder was placed at a pitch that was more than the 4 to 1 ratio of the working height of the ladder. While the EE#1 was on the fourth rung down from the top, the feet of the ladder slipped out causing the ladder and EE#1 to fall down. EE#1 suffered a sprained ankle and shoulder with abrasions on both legs.
12/09/2009 Safety Director, was inspecting a job on an existing office building with the building owner and the president of the company. As victim neared the top of a fixed permanent ladder, 13 feet high, that was part of the existing structure, he fell backwards off the ladder and struck his head on the concrete floor. He died on 01/03/10.
4/7/10 Victim and two other employees were preparing to install solar panels on the roof of a three story building. Employee lost his balance and fell approximately 40 feet below to a concrete walkway.
On 4/14/2010 an employee was dispatched to repair roof leaks at the site. The employees went up on the roof over the truck shop by ladder. The employee was crossing the roof area stepped onto the skylight, which was an old corrugated fiberglass panel and fell through the panel. The decedent fell about 20 ft to the concrete floor in the shop. He was critically injured and was taken off life support later the next day.
On January 11, 2010 at approximately 10:40 a.m., a 45 year old male was killed as a result of a fall of 30 feet down an improperly guarded elevator shaft. The employee was laying out grid lines and shoveling snow and fell through an elevator shaft opening from the 2nd floor deck of an 81 unit apartment complex that was under construction. The opening in the 2nd floor deck was covered with a plastic tarp at the time the fall occurred. There were temporary guardrails installed around a portion of the shaft opening as well. The employee was not wearing any other fall protection device when the fall occurred. Snow on the actual working surface may have been a contributing factor in the fall.
On April 22, 2010 an employee was walking across the second floor of a former store that was in the demolition phase of being renovated and fell through a hole in the floor where duct work was recently removed. The hole was 2 feet 8 inches X 3 feet and the distance the employee fell was 16 feet 11 inches. The employee was leaving the building to go to lunch and stepped onto a steel door that was lying across the hole which slid out of place and caused the employee to fall.
an employee was standing inside a wooden construction trash box while elevated on the forks of a rough terrain telescoping boom forklift when the box fell approximately 20 feet, killing the employee.
1/13/2010 The worker was on a residential roof repairing cedar shingles. The worker fell off the roof and suffered rib(s) fracture. The employee was not using personal fall protection.
6 employees were installing bracing to wooden trusses while working on/inside the web of the trusses with 2 other employees working on the ground. The trusses rolled/collapsed. Two employees fell from the trusses and were injured. One employee, working on the ground, was killed when the trusses fell on him.
The worker was on a residential roof, 16 feet high, repairing cedar shingles. The worker fell off the roof and suffered rib(s) fracture. The employee was not using personal fall protection.
November 5, 2009, one English- speaking male, age 59, received fatal injuries after falling approximately 48-50 feet from an aerial lift. The employee was alone in the aerial lift, which was equipped with standard guard railing, while operating the aerial lift inside a circular, open- topped storage tank under construction. The tank was approximately 56 feet tall at the time of the accident. The employee was removing wall mounted triangular brackets and grinding mounting clips from the interior wall. Because the employee was facing the controls while repositioning the aerial lift, his back was to the brackets still mounted on the interior wall. The basket of the aerial lift became caught on a bracket that was still mounted to the interior wall. When the basket released from the bracket, the sudden upward movement ejected the employee from the lift. The employee received fatal injuries from the fall to the ground level. The employee was wearing a full body harness with lanyard but was not tied off to the aerial lift platform.
On April 9, 2010, employee (Drywall/Framer) was working inside a scissor lift installing soffit under a 9 foot ceiling. The employee was reaching for a clamp, when his tools caught the lever on the lift, causing the lift to go backwards, turning left and pinning against the soffit. The lift continue to go in reverse, and tipped over with employee onto to the ground.
On January 29, 2007, Employee #1 and Employee #2 were erecting open web steel joists. They walked and stood on the unabridged joists bottom chord in the mid span to set a roof frame. The joist rolled in the concrete wall pockets and wedged in between the concrete wall, throwing them both to the ground. Employee #1 sustained a broken toe and bruises on his right foot. Employee #2 sustained cracked ribs, ruptured lung, bruised legs and lacerations to his face. Both employees were hospitalized.
On large decking jobs, safety nets can be rigged to protect workers from a fall.
Five Iron workers died at the State Of Illinois building when the homemade cage failed and came apart in the early 1980’s
The grates must be clipped and secured from movement.
6/6/08 Victims were hired by homeowner to manually remove undesireable grass and vegetation growning along the perimeter of a pond. At one point one or both of the victims entered the water to perform the tasks. One victim could not swim and police speculate that he got in over his head. The second victim was pulled under while assisting the other. Both men drowned.
On July 6, 2009 employee (Iron Worker) felled onto concrete surface. Employee was assigned to cuts tips from vertical retaining rebar wall using cutting torch. Employee either failed to secured safety hook, or safety hook slipped off 5/8-inch vertical rebar, or the vertical rebar gave way because the ties were not properly secured.
1/6/08 One employee was operating the forklift and the victim was riding on the forks of the forklift. The operator drove onto the sidewalk in front of the building and drove the forklift into an existing concrete support, crushing the victim between the forklift mast and the column.
This is a summary of fall requirements. Please print out.