Fall Hazards On The Job
Nicholas J. Marsh
Columbia Southern University

The Problem With fall Protection In the Construction Industry
Far to often the problem(s) with fall protection in the construction industry begins with workers not being properly trained. When it comes to fall protection companies either fail to give the proper training on fall protection. Companies assume that they have experienced men and woman working with them. A company may have hired a new employee and that employee may have been hired under false pretenses, the employee may have lied saying they have had lots of experience with fall protection. That’s why it is important for a company to have its’ own fall protection training in place. No matter how much experience a person may say they have that person may not be telling the truth so they can secure a job. Another problem with fall related accidents is that the safety equipment may be old and outdated, or have burns, and cuts. Companies are not always the ones to blame when a worker is injured from a fall. Some employees choose not to wear any fall protection, wear their fall protection improperly, or fail to inspect their safety equipment properly even though they have been properly trained to do so. You can lead a horse to water but you can make him drink it. Same holds true in the construction industry, you can provide all the safety training in the world and supply the best safety equipment, but it is ultimately up to the worker to choose the right choices.
Review and Analysis
October 2012, a construction worker fell to his death while working on an unfinished rooftop more than fifty feet in the air. According to witnesses in a preliminary investigation, the worker was not wearing a safety harness. The company the worker had been working for was fined prior the incident happening. The company was issued a citation previous to the accident, according to Gordon (2012), “the serious violation was issued because the firm did not provide a proper training program for employees who were exposed to fall hazards of up to 43 feet while engaged in steel installation” (p.1). The willful violation came as a result of the employees who were engage in installing metal roofing, they were not protected by mean of a safety harness, safety net, or any other means of a restraint system (Gordon, 2012). According to Gordon (2012), “A serious violation means conditions were such that if an error were to occur, the resulting injuries would be serious in nature, including death, multiple fractures, loss limb or contusions”(p.1). This was not the first time the company had been fined or issued citations; the company had been cited with six serious violations in the past. Citations included, scaffolding issues, electrical problems, and lack of safety equipment (Gordon, 2012).

Causative Factors
Some of the factors that caused this particular accident would be, absents of training on fall protection from heights greater than forty-three feet. The company provided no training to its employees when required to do so with a fall factor of 43 feet or higher. With little or no training that this particular company did not provide, the worker in the situation may not have known the full dangers from working at such a great height. With not understanding the fatality risks from a fall the worker would not be able to fully understand the risk he was getting himself into, deaths from a fall can happen from as little as four feet. Another problem may have been the lack of a safety harness; the company had been fined in the past for not providing adequate safety equipment. The article also says Gordon (2012), “ While employees were wearing safety harnesses on Oct. 25, when the fatal fall occurred, three out of the four employees working on the roof did not have their harnesses tied to an anchor point” (p.1). While four employees had safety harnesses on three of them choose not to hook them off, whether they didn’t have anchor points or carelessly didn’t hook up, not all employees were afforded the option to even have safety equipment. Windy conditions that day may have been a hazardous condition that the worker did not recognized, it was noted that a gust of wind caused the worker to lose his footing. Weather cannot be ignored in roofing situations, the smallest amount of water or sweat can make a roof slippery and to factor in winds makes a roof a very dangerous spot. Another factor that may or may not have played a role is inexperience, the worker that had fallen to his death was 36, and he may not have had much experience in the construction field. Also you never know why a person would not have spoken up and asked for a safety harness, he may have feared losing his job if he had spoken up, or he just lacked the experience in seeing hazards on a job site.
Fall Protection Program
A good fall protection program that should be reviewed by employees working on roofs should include the following:
A statement of company policy, employees should know what a company expects from its’ employees and employees should have an understanding of what to expect from an employer.
Employees need to be specifically trained to do this type of work and need to be trained to recognize fall hazards that come with installation of roofing systems and associated activities.
When adverse weather (such as high winds or rain) is creating a hazardous condition, the employees need to recognize this hazard and stop, analyze the situation and if cannot continue with safe operations stop the work until safe conditions can be meet.
On roof tops workers shall use personal fall arrest systems at all times, workers will also use 100% tie off, they will not unhook to move around an object then hook back up.
Workers shall use the right footwear for the job, such as non-slip steel toe shoes. Roof surfaces shall be inspected for slipping hazards and these hazards shall either be eliminated or effective measures shall be taken to avoid them.
All workers will ensure that they have secure footing before they attempt to walk on the roof decking including cleaning shoes/boots of mud or other slip hazards.
Damaged portions of the roof deck shall be repaired as soon as practicable and any holes such as skylight openings or other areas where workers would not have safe footing shall be covered or marked with flagging to ensure workers are aware of the open hole/fall hazard.
Employees need to be aware that the safety rules and regulations are for their benefit and that purposely breaking the rules will result in termination of employment.
Conclusion
With the construction industry being one of the most dangerous fields of work there is, workers need to look out for each other. A person cannot always riley on the company they are working for to do the right thing, especially when it comes to safety. Some company’s view doing things safely an impediment on production, and with an impediment on production comes the loss of income. Whether you are working four feet from the ground or forty feet, the potential for a fatality exists. The best way for employers to avoid tragic losses of life on the job site is training, training and more training. The more educated a person becomes on the hazards and outcomes of fall hazards, the better choices that person will make to prevent themselves from becoming a statistic. Other ways employers can avoid fall hazard accidents on their job site; buy the best-suited safety equipment for the task at hand. Programs should also be put into place to regularly inspect and maintained all safety related equipment. Employers should also train employees on what to look for before wearing safety harnesses. Even though a program may exist to where safety equipment is inspected yearly, employees each time they are to put on a safety harness should inspect it themselves, after all they are the ones wearing the device not someone who inspected it 2 months ago. The most important way employers can prevent fall related accident is to develop a procedure involving tasks that require working from heights. The more detailed the procedure the less likely hood of a fall related injury is to happen. It’s not to say with all this in place by the employer your not going to have a fall related accident. With all the training in place and the best of the best for safety equipment some people choose not to wear it. When employees choose not to wear their safety equipment or to wear it improperly because it’s uncomfortable, they set themselves up for failure. This is wear watching out for one another comes into play, if you see someone not wearing their safety equimpment improperly or not wearing it at all say something. As hard as it is to coach someone to put their safety equipment on or wear it properly, think you have rather said nothing have them get killed and have that thought with you the rest of your life? Or would you rather have said something? Have them be a little pissed off about it, but put their gear on the proper way. If it really comes down to you coaching someone and they ignore you, talk to the boss I am sure that persons spouse or children would rather have that person fired than dead.

I Chose To Look The Other Way
I could have saved a life that day,
But I chose to look the other way.
It wasn’t that I didn’t care;
I had the time, and I was there.

But I didn’t want to seem a fool,
Or argue over a safety rule.
I knew he’d done the job before;
If I spoke up he might get sore.

The chances didn’t seem that bad;
I’d done the same, he knew I had.
So I shook my head and walked by;
He knew the risks as well as I.

He took the chance, I closed an eye;
And with that act, I let him die.
I could have saved a life that day,
But I chose to look the other way.

Now every time I see his wife,
I know I should have saved his life.
That guilt is something I must bear;
But isn’t’ something you need to share.

If you see a risk that others take
That puts their health or life at stake,
The question asked or thing you say;
Could help them live another day.

If you see a risk and walk away,
Then hope you never have to say,
“I could have saved a life that day,
But I chose to look the other way.”

by: Don Merrill

References
Gordon, M. (2012) Stamford Advocate. http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/OSHA-fines-firm-in-Stamford-construction-death-3498202.php http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/man-badly-hurt-downtown-construction-site/ncdbZ/ https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/construction/falls/mainpage.html https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=13403 http://www.michigan.gov/documents/cis_wsh_choose_to_look_poem_134209_7.doc