This week is National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction, which is a perfect opportunity to remind all our member company employees about the basics of fall protection.
This one is easy to remember. You don't need to be working up very high to need fall protection. In 2018 the Center for Construction Research found that 11.7% of fatalities from falls were from heights between 6 and 10 feet. Another 19.7% of fatalities occurred from falls between 11 and 15 feet high. That's not even taking into account serious injuries, which could impact you for the rest of your life.
(If you're working under "general industry" rather than "construction," you'll need fall protection at only four feet or higher, so keep that in mind as well!)
Fall protection systems have three components, which must all be in good condition for the system to work. You can have the best-rated harness and lanyard in the world, but if you clip off onto a corroded, flimsy anchor.... you're not in fall protection anymore. Make sure all components are available and in good condition before proceeding with work at heights.
If you've never inspected your harness or lanyard, here's a great tutorial to get you started:
This one goes out to supervisors as well as employees. If a task involves working at heights, it's important to plan the task from start to finish before anyone takes the first step off the ground. Anyone working at heights also needs to be trained to do so before they don a harness for the first time.
As always, please feel free to reach out to TT&S for any fall protection training needs or questions. We'd be happy to help.
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