Fall Protection: How We Can Scale Down Falls In The Workplace

Why is Fall Protection Important?

According to OSHA, Falls are one of the most common causes of work-related injuries and death. As an employer, it is critical that your workplace is properly arranged in order to prevent workers from falling off overheads, elevated workstations and holes.

Ways we can reduce Fall Hazards?

To ensure our workers make it back to their loved ones, it is important that employers adhere to and abide by the Fall Protection requirements provide by OSHA. If you operate in a general industry workplace, OSHA requires that fall protection be provided when working in elevations of four feet. Fall protection must be provided at five feet if in a shipyard, at six feet when operating in the construction industry and eight feet when in longshoring operations. OSHA also requires fall protection be provided when working with dangerous machinery.

How to prevent injuries caused falls

• Guard every floor hole with a railing and toe-board or a floor hole cover.
• Provide a guard rail and toe-board around every elevated open sided platform, floor or runway.
• Employers must provide guardrails and toe-boards to prevent workers from falling and getting injured.
• Other means of fall protection that may be required on certain jobs include safety harness and line, safety nets, stair railings and handrails.
• Make sure that your floors are clean and dry.
• Provide quality PPE to your workers
• make sure every individual is properly trained in workplace hazards

As we are all very appreciative of OSHA and their continued efforts to provide and enforce the best safety practices in any industry, it is just as important that you as an employer implement these practices and truly ingrain them in your daily operations. To assist you in achieving that, we offer certified training that will keep you and your workers safe. We encourage you to sign up for our Fall Protection Competent Person training. This course is designed for supervisors who must also serve as the competent person required by OSHA's Fall Protection standards. Trainees will learn how to evaluate fall protection, inspection procedures, conduct hazard analysis, recognize fall hazards, the difference between fall prevention and fall protection. The course also supplies the trainee with the knowledge and skills to perform the annual inspection and maintain accurate records. Hours depend on training standard requests.

To schedule a training session, please contact us at 800.332.0432 or training@premiersafety.com