Preventing Falls-Russ’s Story
Russ is just one of the many U.S. workers who are injured each year from falls at work. In 2023, there were more than 400 fatalities from falls at U.S. construction sites. That’s more than one fatal fall each day of the year, and that was only at construction sites. Sadly, almost all fall fatalities and injuries are preventable, as was the case with Russ.
Last week, May 5 – 9, OSHA promoted a National Safety Stand Down, encouraging employers to talk directly to employees about safety to raise awareness. The focus was on the topics of fall hazards and prevention. While SCM believes that this emphasis is well-meaning and well-deserved, we think there should be more time given to the topic of fall hazards and prevention than just one week.
Going back to Russ’s story, we could judge what he did and ask many questions. Why did the employer let him go up in a lift in a rainstorm? Why did Russ unhook his safety harness? Why didn’t Russ listen to his coworker telling him that climbing out of the lift basket onto a railing was unsafe? But in reality, these are things that people do at times to get the job done. The unfortunate part is that we can surmise from what Russ said that he had climbed out of the basket before without falling, without getting injured.
The job had to get done. Thinking about the hierarchy of controls, the hazard could not be eliminated, there was no substitution for a lesser hazard available. Telling Russ not to do what he was doing (an administrative control) didn’t work. Staying in the lift to access the job and wearing the proper personal protective equipment, a personal fall arrest system, were the only methods of control that Russ had available. We are sure that Russ regrets his actions in not using those controls.
While it might not seem like it, in a way, Russ was lucky. He lived. He was not one of those fatality statistics we mentioned earlier. But his life was forever changed. The lives of his wife and son were changed forever.
Fall protection is serious. Learn from Russ.
If you need to learn more about fall protection, we have an online course on the subject, linked here.
Weekly Safety Challenge:
Have you ever experienced a serious fall, or had a near-miss experience of almost falling? What did you learn from that experience? Share that lesson with your coworkers.
