MODULE 2: PREPARING TO PREVENT FALLS

Make fall protection part of your workplace safety and health program

A workplace safety and health program is what you and your co-workers do to achieve and maintain a safe, healthful workplace. There are as many types of safety and health programs as there are workplaces, but not all programs are successful. What makes a successful safety and health program? There are seven elements:

1. Commitment. All employees - including company executive officers, managers, and supervisors - are committed to making the program succeed.
2. Accountability. All employees - including company executive officers, managers, and supervisors - are held accountable for following safe work practices.
3. Involvement. All employees, including managers and supervisors, participate in making the program succeed.
4. Hazard identification. All employees are trained to identify hazards, and there are procedures for conducting hazard inspections and reporting hazards.
5. Accident investigation. Managers and supervisors promptly investigate all accidents and near misses and then determine how to eliminate their causes.
6. Training. All employees receive training in identifying workplace hazards and learning safe work practices.
7. Evaluation. Managers and supervisors, with help from other employees, evaluate the program's strengths and weaknesses at least once a year.

It's interesting to note that, of all the seven elements, the element that usually results in more OSHA citations due to inadequate implementation is the training element. OSHA compliance officers (and lawyers in law suits) will look long and hard at your training program because they know that it is the area that is more likely lacking in due diligence.

Prepare a safety and health policy

Does your company have a written safety and health policy? It should. A written policy reflects commitment to a safe, healthful workplace, summarizes management and employee responsibilities, and emphasizes the safety and health program's role in achieving that goal. Keep the policy brief, commit to it, and enforce it. Take a look at a sample policy.

Designate competent persons and qualified persons

You'll find activities throughout OSHA's workplace safety and health rules that are required to be conducted by competent and qualified persons.

Competent person and qualified person are terms that federal OSHA created to designate individuals who have the training and expertise to evaluate hazardous conditions, inspect equipment, evaluate mechanical systems, or train others how to work safely.

Who can be competent and qualified persons?

OSHA offers the following definitions:

• The competent person. A competent person is one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them. [1926.32(f)]
• The qualified person. A qualified person is one who, by possession of a recognized degree, certificate, or professional standing or who, by extensive knowledge, training, and experience, has successfully demonstrated his or her ability to solve or resolve problems relating to the subject matter, the work, or the project. [1926.32(m)]

Determining who can be a competent or qualified person

Although federal OSHA defines competent and qualified persons, it doesn't provide specifics for determining who can assume these roles. The following guidelines may help:

• Know the OSHA rules that apply to your workplace. The rules will tell you if you need to designate a competent or a qualified person.
• If an OSHA rule that applies to your workplace requires a competent or a qualified person, note duties and responsibilities that the rule requires the person to perform.
• If an OSHA rule that applies to your workplace requires a competent person, that person must have the authority to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate hazards.
• Determine the knowledge, training, and experience the competent or qualified person needs to meet the rule's requirements.
• Designate a person who has the knowledge, training, and experience that meets the rule's requirements.

Duties and responsibilities of competent and qualified persons

The competent person

• Serves as the monitor in a safety-monitoring system and is responsible for recognizing hazards that cause falls and warning workers about them.
• Determines that safety nets meet minimum requirements.
• Inspects a personal fall-arrest system after it arrests a fall and determines if the system is undamaged and can be used again.
• Evaluates any alteration in a personal fall-arrest system and determines if the system is safe to use.
• Supervises the installation of slide-guard systems.
• Trains employees to recognize hazards that cause falls and to follow procedures that minimize the hazards.

The qualified person

• Supervises design, installation, and use of horizontal lifeline systems to ensure that they can maintain a safety factor of at least two - twice the impact of a worker free-falling 6 feet.
• Supervises design, installation, and use of personal fall-restraint anchorages.
• Supervises design, installation, and use of personal fall-arrest anchorages.

Real-world falls Journeyman electrician falls over 12-inch parapet on a flat roof On a frosty December morning in southern Oregon, three electricians were on a store rooftop installing electrical wiring for an air conditioning upgrade. They began reeling out no. 4 copper wire. The supervisor held the reel as the journeyman electrician walked backward about 185 feet toward the edge of the roof, pulling and twisting the wire to straighten it. When he got close to the edge of the flat roof, he stumbled and fell over the 12-inch parapet at the roof's edge. He was able to grab onto the parapet with one hand, but fell before the supervisor could reach him. He fell about 22 feet to the ground. Another employee dialed 911 and went to the aid of the injured worker. The worker suffered a punctured lung, severe head injuries, a fractured knee, and broken ribs, clavicle, and wrists. It had been his first day on the job. Findings: The supervisor had not conducted a hazard assessment at the job site before workers were allowed on the roof and was not a competent person in evaluating fall hazards. Roof edges were not guarded, the company did not have a safety committee, and the work site was not free of debris that could cause falls. In addition, the employer failed to train workers how to recognize fall hazards or to certify that each employee who might be exposed to fall hazards had received fall-protection training.

Watch this Fall Protection Video Courtesy of WorkSafe BC (British Columbia, Canada)

Here's a sample Construction Fall Protection Plan that you can use for your company.

Take the review Quiz Most (but not all) questions on the final exam are derived from module quizzes.