The history of human innovation for working at height dates back centuries. Scaffolding – first depicted in drawings from ancient Greece in the 5th century BC – was fashioned from wood secured by rope knots.
Ladders are one of those standard, time-tested pieces of equipment that would presumably need no training, yet according to OSHA, falls remain the No. 1 cause of death in the construction industry.
OSHA has cited Jaime Martinez Hernandez – a residential framing contractor based in Phenix City, Alabama – for exposing employees to fall and struck-by hazards at two Alabama worksites. The contractor faces $240,880 in penalties.
The agency conducted the inspections in conjunction with the agency’s Regional Emphasis Program for Falls in Construction after investigators observed employees working from heights without fall protection at worksites in Auburn and Opelika.
Accidents happen for millions of reasons, but the truth is, they are all preventable. Three major causes are common in almost all accidents; not using the right tool for the job; using a damaged tool that hasn’t been inspected; and not following the basic safety guideline for that tool.
Ladders 1926.1053 was the sixth most-frequently cited agency standard in FY 2019. Specialty Trade Contractors and Construction of Buildings earned the lion’s share of OSHA citations for violations of standard 1926.1053, with employers in the first category...
In a notice published Tuesday in the Federal Register, OSHA issued corrections to its Walking-Working Surfaces Personal Protective Equipment (Fall Protection Systems), and Special Industries (Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution) rule. They include:
When employees are performing construction work six feet or more above a lower level, you need to provide them with some type of fall protection. There is an exception for working on scaffolding — the threshold height for fall protection is ten feet. OSHA regulates falls at 1926 Subpart M.
ISHN recently visited Honeywell’s Industrial Life Safety Training Center/Customer Experience Center in Pasadena, TX, to get some first-hand fall protection training and updates on the company’s hearing protection and gas detection lines.
Falls from an elevation are a leading cause of death amongst contraction workers, and one third of those falls are from ladders. However, some of these fatalities could be prevented simply with the implementation of the three-point control technique.
Even though ladders have been around for most of recorded history, they haven't changed much in function and design since their primitive origins. This simple design is so practical almost everyone uses it; on the other hand, it is so basic it is also easy to misuse and can be dangerous.
