FALL PROTECTION
Why is fall protection important?
Falls are among the most common causes of serious work related injuries
and deaths. Employers must set up the work place to prevent employees
from falling off of overhead platforms, elevated work stations or into holes in
the floor and walls.
What can be done to reduce falls?
Employers must set up the work place to prevent employees from falling off
of overhead platforms, elevated work stations or into holes in the floor and
walls. OSHA requires that fall protection be provided at elevations of four feet
in general industry workplaces, five feet in shipyards, six feet in the
construction industry and eight feet in long shoring operations. In addition,
OSHA requires that fall protection be provided when working over dangerous
equipment and machinery, regardless of the fall distance.
To prevent employees from being injured from falls, employers must:
Guard every floor hole into which a worker can accidentally walk (using
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.
Regardless of height, if a worker can fall into or onto dangerous
machines or equipment (such as a vat or acid or a conveyor belt)
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 and harness and line, safety nets, stair railings and hand
rails.
Ladder Safety
The OSHA Standard for portable ladders contains specific requirements
designed to ensure worker safety:
Loads
Angle
Rungs
Slipping
Other Requirements
Loads
Figure 1
Self-supporting (foldout) and non-self-supporting (leaning)
portable ladders must be able to support at least four times
the maximum intended load, except extra-heavy-duty metal
or plastic ladders, which must be able to sustain 3.3 times
the maximum intended load. (See Figure 1.)
Angle
Non-self-supporting ladders, which must lean against a wall
or other support, are to be positioned at such an angle that
the horizontal distance from the top support to the foot of the
ladder is about 1/4 the working length of the ladder. (See
Figure 2.)
Figure 2
In the case of job-made wooden ladders, that angle should
equal about 1/8 the working length. This minimizes the strain
of the load on ladder joints that may not be as strong as on
commercially manufactured ladders.
Rungs
Ladder rungs, cleats, or steps must be parallel, level, and
uniformly spaced when the ladder is in position for use.
Rungs must be spaced between 10 and 14 inches apart.
For extension trestle ladders, the spacing must be 8-18
inches for the base, and 6-12 inches on the extension
section.
Figure 3
Figure 4
Rungs must be so shaped that an employee's foot cannot
slide off, and must be skid-resistant. (See Figure 3.)
Slipping
Ladders are to be kept free of oil, grease, wet paint, and
other slipping hazards.
Wood ladders must not be coated with any opaque covering,
except identification or warning labels on one face only of a
side rail.
Figure 5
Other Requirements
Foldout or stepladders must have a metal spreader or locking
device to hold the front and back sections in an open position
when in use. (See Figure 4.)
When two or more ladders are used to reach a work area,
they must be offset with a landing or platform between the
ladders.
The area around the top and bottom of ladder must be kept
clear.
Ladders must not be tied or fastened together to provide
longer sections, unless they are specifically designed for
such use. (See Figure 5.)
Never use a ladder for any purpose other than the one for
which it was designed.
MATERIAL HANDLING SAFETY
The National Safety Council suggests employers relay the following
information to employees to help reduce workplace incidents when handling
and moving materials:
Avoid lifting materials from the floor or while seated.
Make use of available handling aids.
Refrain from using sudden or jerky movements.
Never lift a load over an obstacle.
Perform lifts in areas with adequate footing, space and lighting.
Modify objects and redesign jobs to make moving easier.
Seek assistance from co-workers.
Stay in good physical shape.
Begin lifts close to the body.
Use containers made of lighter materials.
Reduce load sizes when possible.
Do not twist or bend while lifting objects.
Ensure repetitive, heavy and bulky lifts are not performed.
Keep lifts between shoulder and knuckle height.
Use conveyors, slides or chutes to eliminate pushing or pulling.
FIRE PREVENTION AND PROTECTION
Fire prevention is a function of many fire departments. The goal of fire
prevention is to educate the public to take precautions to prevent
potentially harmful fires, and be educated about surviving them. It is a
proactive method of reducing emergencies and the damage caused by them.
Many fire departments have a Fire Prevention Officer.
In the general sense of preventing harmful fires, many aspects are discussed
in the articles Fire protection and Fire safety.
Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects
of potentially destructive fires. It involves the study of the
behavior, compartmentalization, suppression and investigation of fire and its
related emergencies, as well as the research and development, production,
testing and application of mitigating systems. In structures, be they landbased, offshore or even ships, the owners and operators are responsible to
maintain their facilities in accordance with a design-basis that is rooted in
laws, including the local building code and fire code, which are enforced by
the Authority Having Jurisdiction. Buildings must be constructed in
accordance with the version of the building code that is in effect when an
application for a building permit is made. Building inspectors check on
compliance of a building under construction with the building code.
Once construction is complete, a building must be maintained in accordance
with the current fire code, which is enforced by the fire prevention officers of
a local fire department. In the event of fire emergencies, Firefighters, fire
investigators, and other fire prevention personnel called to mitigate,
investigate and learn from the damage of a fire. Lessons learned from fires
are applied to the authoring of both building codes and fire codes.
