In 2013, the leading cause of deaths in the workplace on construction sites were falls: falls from ladders, falls from structures, etc.  In 2014, the number one violation [8,000+] cited by OSHA was 1926.501 Fall Protection. From October 2014 to date, there have already been 186 workplace fatalities due to falls. 186 deaths, which all could have been prevented with better training, and with better implementation of work practice controls, and hazard assessment processes.

 

Seeing the bigger picture

Training and education in vertical markets need to teach more than the first principles of fall protection. Anytime a technician is expected to climb for a living they should first be trained in the discipline of “prevention.” Fall Prevention, or “100% Fall Prevention,” is the key to reducing injury and death in these markets. Safety professionals and work-at-height experts are forever preaching the hierarchy of risk, while working feverishly to eliminate hazards. Often times, professionals dive deep into the weeds by working with engineers and manufacturers to come up with ways to eliminate a hazard, but in doing so risk losing sight of the immediate exposures the workforce faces everyday.  

 

Training organizations with mature work-at-height programs offer solutions to reduce risk of the immediate exposures. Global Wind Organization (GWO) Basic Safety Training Standard is a globally recognized, almost harmonized, approach to standardize a culture of prevention. It consists of five modules, including: 

In general, the work-at-heights segment’s intention is to provide heightened focus on the prevention of falls through work practice controls, techniques, and equipment. Essentially, this upgrade in equipment, combined with the further development of knowledge and skills, allows for a technician to make decisions on how best to prevent a fall from occurring. In addition, this training provides for more skill evolutions to be performed with the emergency rescue and evacuation equipment than legacy training has historically allotted for.

 

Currently, there are only a handful of facilities certified to offer this standardized GWO curriculum in training, but those who are, are seeing an increase in reoccurring training from companies and customers who have experienced the many benefits of training to prevent falls. 

 

Use the right tool for the job

The combination of fall protection and prevention equipment is advancing in the work-at-height markets. This enhances the training to prevent falls, and reduces the potential fall distances, while remaining versatile and applicable to a variety of tower and turbine configurations.  

 

The benefits of retractable lanyards increase as the potential for decreasing fall distances is explored. Positioning lanyards with fast adjustment rope capture devices removes the once common argument that, “It takes longer to use them.” What was once thought of as a device to use only when working on the back side of a ladder, nowadays is a common tool carried by work-at-height professionals in the wind industry and it should be. In some instances, it is even necessary to have more than one positioning system in use to achieve 100% fall prevention.

 

Training to be diligent

While on the topic of falling as a hazard, many organizations who are now implementing falling “object” prevention campaigns are finding much success in reducing incidents and injury from falling objects.  Utilizing drop calculators, dropped object risk assessments, tool tethers, and advanced transport bags and pouches, technicians now have safer, and many times more effective, ways to perform tasks at high elevations.  

 

Secure Tethering and Ongoing Prevention [S.T.O.P.] is a training program and discipline that has been developed to reduce falling objects and is now being taught to all students when they attend GWO Work at Heights Training. S.T.O.P, or Dropped Object Prevention, has caught on. Wind Technician Schools, like Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Texas State Technical College, are encouraging students to utilize dropped object risk assessments in their pre-task planning.

 

Be safe to save a life

Each person working at heights has someone who wants them to come home at the end of the day: kids, a spouse or significant other, parents, grandparents, friends, and most importantly, themselves. At one site in Montfort, WI, every employee has posted pictures of their loved ones on the wall, displayed for all to see. These pictures serve as the “Who and Why” reasons that their personal safety and teammates’ safety matters. “Inspirational” is the word that comes to mind when thinking of that. 

 

No job performed should be a race. There are timelines and deadlines by which projects must be completed, but safety is an every moment decision which should be reflected in social environments as much as occupational workplaces. It takes just a second to stop and think about the task ahead, a second to prevent that one horrible thing from happening. Every step taken must be thought out, every move made methodical, because at 300ft elevations, there may be no second chances. 

 

 

Robert Siegel is an accomplished safety professional with a focus on health and safety in the wind industry. In 2007, he co-founded ENSA and is the executive director, responsible for sales, services, and equipment development. 

 

ENSA | www.ensa-northamerica.com