Masonry Magazine March 2008 Page. 46
PERSONAL SAFETY
Foregoing the fall
FALL PROTECTION is mandatory by OSHA regulations for anyone working at a height of six feet or higher. The American National Standards Institute, which recently made a major change regarding snap hooks on fall protection equipment, has set requirements as well. Prior to the change, the gate of a snap hook had to support just 220 pounds, and the side had to support 350 pounds. Now, the gate must support 3,600 pounds, says Scott Rousseau, VP of Web Devices, a vendor of personnel safety equipment.
"That was a major shakeup that went into effect last November," Rousseau says. "Everyone is scrambling around in the industry to determine what hooks they'll use, what line and what will suit the end user best."
Employers purchasing fall equipment for their workers can spend anywhere from $50 to more than $100, adds Rousseau, "depending on how many bells and whistles they want."
Guidelines for fall protection are specific, even requiring that the thread used to sew the webbing together be of a contrasting color for purposes of inspection. Skimping on any of these safety requirements is a bad idea, says Rousseau. In fact, about two fall-related deaths occurred on jobsites each day in 2006, and the leading cause of injury and death in the workplace is falling.
"You don't need fall protection unless you fall, but accidents continue to happen and it's absolutely insane not to have it even if the government didn't require it," says Mark Willingham, president of Web Devices, adding that people who need to work will do it with or without protection.
"A lot of small contractors don't want to have to buy this and this and this, they just want to be in and out in a hurry," Willingham says. "But if they're sued, they file bankruptcy and start over under another name, rather than paying the lawsuit. It's just not fair to employees not to [provide the protective equipment)."
Again, individual company policy might set standards even higher than those required by OSHA. For instance, while OSHA doesn't require guardrails on scaffolding unless working at a height of 10 feet or higher, Skanska USA Building Inc. requires employees to use rails at six feet and higher, says David B. Korman, an environmental, health and safety director for the international construction company. Skanska also requires workers to wear high-visibility clothing, such as reflective vests in orange or lime, as an additional safety measure.
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