Tips On How To Set Up a Basic Fall Protection Program

Fall protection training helps to ensure a soft landing. Falls are a leading cause of work-related deaths and are almost completely preventable. While most falls occur in the construction industry, the problem is by no means limited to construction work. General industry experiences thousands of serious accidents each year from employees falling from or through roofs, platforms, ladders, scaffolds, and openings in floors or walls. OSHA believes that almost all such accidents could be prevented through the use of basic safeguards such as guardrails, safety harnesses, and other fall arrest equipment.

Why Proper PPE and Training Matters:

OSHA estimates that there are about 68,000 fall-related injuries in the workplace each year. Falls of all types in North America, account for an estimated 800,000 injuries per year, including 13,000 deaths. OSHA’s general industry standard for guarding floor and wall openings had more than 1,400 citations in one recent year, with penalties of more than $1.2 million dollars.

Prevention is the key to your company’s fall protection program! Developing and maintaining a training program for fall protection is the answer. OSHA regulations for general industry provide very little guidance for such training. Yet it’s clear that in any workplace where falls could occur, employers should address this issue through employee training as well as by providing the physical safeguards that are required in the standards.

A Basic Fall Protection Training Outline Includes:

Potential Workplace Hazards: Take the time to identify the locations, conditions, and situations in your workplace where falls might happen. After identifying any potential risks gather the resources necessary to reduce or eliminate these areas of risk.

Fall Protection Training: Guide your employees to understand the need for safety equipment and make sure that they use it properly. Employees probably do not need to know the detailed OSHA specifications for guardrails and other fall protection devices, but they definitely should understand that such equipment is required on or around platforms, catwalks, openings, or wherever there is a fall hazard.

Fall Protection PPE Usage and Knowledge: Personal fall arrest equipment, such as safety harnesses and lanyards are considered to be a types of PPE that require thorough training, it is vital that you train your employees how to use fall protection properly, in compliance with OSHA Regulation (29 CFR 1910.132).

Remember, the use of common sense goes a long way, encourage your employees to do the same. Falls often occur when employees are careless or foolish, for example, there have been several instances of deaths from workers standing or leaning on skylights. Take action to prevent tragedies on the job, encourage employees to develop a strong "safety sense" about possible fall hazards, train employees to take all possible precautions in potentially hazardous situations and to report any unsafe conditions such as missing guardrails or other safety equipment immediately.

Employees should know when harnesses or other fall arrest equipment is required. It’s helpful to have specific rules, or at least clear guidelines, especially if these go beyond OSHA requirements. As an example, several companies have adopted a rule that all work that takes place 6 feet or more off the ground requires employees to wear complete fall protection equipment, this rule that has saved lives more than once.