Osha Fall Protection Regulations

OSHA fall protection is amongst the best in the world in Australia

. A recent American ruling brought theirs in line with ours, citing a number of innovations as being the best way to improve their working safety practices.

Obviously the most standard piece of OSHA fall protection apparatus is the good, old fashioned construction safety netting. This is something like a trapeze net, which catches anyone or anything that falls from a height. There are a number of regulations regarding this, not least of which is the testing and evaluation of the construction. Nets must extend outwards in relation to how high they are being built, and should be able to withstand considerably more than your weight. The most effective test is dropping a sandbag from the greatest height, and watching the results.

It might be that safety netting is not appropriate. This means that OSHA fall protection guidelines move into the area of safety harnessing. This height is deemed to be around 6 foot. Again, simply having the safety apparatus in place doesnt mean that you are necessarily safe, as it has to be tested. Also, obstructions can impede the fall of a person, and these need to be taken into consideration, simply by nature of the physics involved in wearing a harness.

The relatively new technology of safety screens rather than safety netting is one which is becoming increasingly used, but given the relatively high cost of such devices, they will not come into common usage for a number of years.

Any OSHA fall protection considerations should be sure to encompass more general aspects of construction safety such as the proper supervision of construction workers, the implementation of safe work procedures and maintenance of the selected OSHA Fall Protection system.

OSHA fall protection should also encompass maintenance. The fitting of any safety devices and the appropriate training of workers is not the basic requirement. Frequent checks should be made as well as after anything which could have an effect on harness, netting or screening effectiveness. This could be something as innocuous as a rain shower, of period of inactivity on site. These checks do not have to be exhaustive, but should be documented properly to avoid misunderstanding.

The need to establish when and where these fall hazard systems should be placed is an absolutely vital one, and courses are available to enable you to more accurately establish the needs of any given situation. Fall hazards are a significant risk in our industry, and the less of them we have, the better things will go on our construction sites. OSHA fall protection is a huge part of this. Ensure you are considering it correctly.

by: Martin Sejas

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