Updated Fall Protection User Training Program
August 9, 2018
We recently released the latest edition of our Fall Protection User Training Program. This version (number 4.51) replaces Version 2.0.
Donning a Fall Protection Harness?
April 2, 2018
A Fall protection harness has saved many lives but like any PPE you need to follow specific practices. Over time those practices will turn into habits. Hopefully you can train and encourage those at your location to add these two simple steps to your harness donning procedure.
Self-Retracting Lanyards: Can you anchor at your feet?
Oct 10, 2017
Fall protection equipment manufacturers are innovators. They are constantly developing new types of equipment and upgrading the capabilities of existing equipment. Self-retracting lanyards (SRLs or ‘yo-yos’) provide a great example of this innovation.
Confined Space Attendant and Fall Protection
Oct 5, 2016
Consider for a moment the issue of fall protection and the confined space attendant overseeing entry operations for workers in a vault or manhole (top down entry). A question I often ask our students is: “Does the confined space attendant need to be tied off?”
Fall Protection: Meeting the USACE’s Requirements
Mar 29, 2016
Anyone who has worked at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project understands how much emphasis the corps places on safety. Fall protection offers a great example. Central to this effort are the specific training and retraining requirements for fall protection users, competent persons, and qualified persons.
Fall Protection on Roofs: How Close Can You Get?
Mar 10, 2016
Providing fall protection on flat or low-sloped roofs (defined as roofs with a slope of 0 in 12 to 4 in 12) has always been a hot topic of discussion in our Fall Protection Competent Person classes. And the discussion starts by trying to figure out: How close can a worker get to the edge of a roof before they are exposed to a fall?
Fall Hazards and Permit-Required Confined Spaces
Jan 7, 2016
When Oregon re-wrote its confined space rules last year, one issue of interest among those attending the stakeholder’s meeting hosted by OROSHA, was the question of fall hazards and permit spaces. In other words, if you had a pit twenty feet deep and the only hazard was posed by using a fixed ladder to enter this pit, would the fall hazard be serious enough to make the confined space a permit space?
Fall Arrest Anchors: Strong Enough or Not?
Jun 24, 2015
If a fall arrest anchor can’t withstand the forces generated, nothing else matters. But when a worker clips in, how can they be assured that the anchor will function if and when it’s needed? This is essentially a quality assurance question and assuring quality requires a variety of processes, none of which are complicated but each are required to make the system work. In this blog we have broken the processes down into various steps with the focus on fall arrest anchors.
Suspension Trauma: Cause and Effects
Jan 19, 2015
When you are hanging in a harness the leg straps cut off this return flow. Blood pools in the legs where the tissues scrub out all the oxygen and load it up with metabolic waste products. With this reduction of blood circulating in the body, the heart compensates by speeding up the heart rate to maintain blood flow to the brain. How long does this process take? It depends on many factors.
Fall Arrest Rescue Anchor Capacity
Jul 23, 2012
What is the required capacity for an anchor point used solely for rescue (retrieval) as opposed to fall arrest or fall restraint? It seems like a simple question, and there should be a fairly simple answer. But once you start digging, you discover that the question can be fairly complicated.
Scissors Lift Fall Protection Questions
Jul 5, 2011
Recently a vigorous online discussion erupted over this question when it was asked on an online message board. When I last checked over 140 people had expressed a wide variety of fact and opinion. The question itself was simple to answer: “No, OSHA doesn’t require an employee to use fall protection when using a scissors lift (i.e., work platform that cannot be positioned completely beyond the base) if the guardrails are installed and the gates closed.” In fact, the scissors lift itself is a form of fall protection which protects workers from the hazards of working from portable ladders.
The question itself was simple to answer: “No, OSHA doesn’t require an employee to use fall protection when using a scissors lift (i.e., work platform that cannot be positioned completely beyond the base) if the guardrails are installed and the gates closed.” In fact, the scissors lift itself is a form of fall protection which protects workers from the hazards of working from portable ladders.