Blowin' In The Wind

Rick Raef is a heavy construction safety consultant for Willis Group Holdings, San Francisco, Calif., a global insurance broker. Raef has been with Willis since 1996, during which time he developed a crisis management program called, "Character Based Crisis Management: A Contractor's Survival Guide." He is currently the editor of WCSN-The Willis Construction Safety Network , an electronic safety bulletin distributed to contractors in the United States and Australia. You can contact Rick Raef at raef_ri@willis.com .


How many times do safety professionals have to deal with the gripes, whines, complaints, and sneers of crew members when you stop aerial work platform operators for not being tied off in the basket? That's generally the thanks you get when you catch crew members with their lanyards down. Well, here's a fall protection "success story," written by Joe Roesler, compliance assistance specialist for the Jacksonville Area OSHA office, Jacksonville, Fla.


This safety bulletin, released in July 2004, was titled, "Fall Protection-Don't Get Caught in the Drop Zone!"

According to Roesler, the situation was caught on film as it unfolded because a job site superintendent working nearby happened to have his camera in hand at the time. Additionally, OSHA was not involved in investigating this incident because no fatalities occurred, but was happy to share this example as a lesson to all.

Thanks to his fall protection gear, and the fact that he was tied off to the anchorage point in the basket, the worker was left safe, albeit, blowing in the wind as sort of a construction version of a human wind chime.

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By studying the report a little further, no doubt you will pick up other safety topics to discuss as well; such as a discussion of proper rigging, and 101 reasons why it's not safe to make a pick over someone working directly under a load.

On January 5, 2004 , an employee was removing rebar caps at a construction site where a new library building was being built. He was working from an elevated basket of an aerial lift because the rebar was about 35 feet up the side of the building, and the aerial lift provided easy access. The side of the building where he was working was where the building materials were staged and, as a result, a crane that was hoisting material to the upper floors of the library was continuously lifting loads in the vicinity of the employee.

A 2000-pound load of ¾-inch conduit pipe was rigged to be hoisted to an upper floor. While being lifted, the load became unfastened, and conduit dropped on the arm of the aerial lift. This action slammed the basket of the aerial lift down onto some rebar that was below the basket. When the conduit pipe rolled off the aerial lift, the basket was flung upwards. On its way up, the aerial lift slammed into the concrete section of an upper floor that was about 35 feet from ground level, and the employee was thrown from the aerial lift basket. Luckily, the employee was wearing his fall protection equipment. If it was not for the fall protection that he was wearing, he would have fallen more than 35 feet.

"I think that more than likely I would be dead if I didn't have the fall protection," said the employee. His fall protection equipment saved him.

The Jacksonville Area OSHA office offers the following guidelines for safe practices as it relates to this incident.

Safety Practices

Employers

• Ensure loads are properly rigged before making a lift.
• Do not make lifts over personnel.
• Crane operators need to have a clear sight of where the load is going, and have a signal person providing guidance for the operator.
• Provide fall protection for employees working in aerial lifts.
• Follow the load rating and rigging charts.
• Ensure riggers are properly trained on rigging before rigging loads.

Employees

• Wear the fall protection equipment that is provided for use in an aerial lift.
• Do not stand or work under loads being lifted with a crane.
• Know and follow the manufacturer's operating instructions of the equipment that you are using, and do not operate machinery without being trained on the equipment.
• Do not rig loads without the proper training.