For 6 years in a row, the OSHA standards regarding Fall Protection are the most cited annually. That’s why we pointed out the 5 most cited sections in our ‘OSHA top 5 Fall Protection violations’ blog series. In this series, we provided advice about how to prevent being cited for each section. More importantly, our goal was to create awareness and offer guidance in how to create a safe working environment to ultimately prevent accidents from happening.
We definitely succeeded in creating awareness with over 400 downloads of our ‘OSHA top 5 violations’ infographic.
In this short overview, we want to point out the risks and possible safety measures, related to OSHA’s top 5 fall protection standard violations of 2016 one more time.
Holes and skylights
Number 5 most cited – 154 violations
The risks:
Skylights are presumed safe, because of glass or plastic cover, but the risk of falling through the skylight is still present!
Safety measures:
- Placing guardrails alongside a hole/skylight
- Placing a horizontal lifeline system close to holes skylights
Steep roofs
Number 4 most cited – 523 violations
The risks:
Not identifying a steep roof as such and taking not enough safety measures because of that. Falling and sliding off the roof are a big risk in that case.
Safety measures:
- Guardrail system with toeboard
- Safety net system
- Personal fall arrest system
Low-slope roofs
Number 3 most cited – 625
The risks:
Underestimation of dangers on a low-slope roof and not using fall protection, which can result in a fall.
Safety measures:
- Guardrail system
- Safety net system
- Personal fall arrest system
- Monitoring system (with warning line)
Unprotected sides and edges
Number 2 most cited – 1,278 violations
The risks:
No protected perimeter, which means falling off a structure or work platform is possible when losing balance, tripping or slipping.
Safety measures:
- (Temporary) Guardrail system
- Safety net system
- Personal fall arrest system
Residential Construction
Number 1 most cited – 3,911 violations
The risks:
Unfinished structural parts, tools, debris, materials lying around (tripping hazard) and unprotected sides/edges all add to the risk of falling when no appropriate safety measures are taken.
Safety measures:
- Temporary guardrails
- Personal fall protection system
- Safety net system
- Aerial lifts / ladders / scaffolds
- Eliminate fall hazards where possible
Now you know how to prevent citations for OSHA standard violations, or more important: how to prevent workers at height getting in dangerous situations and getting hurt due to a fall.
To give you a tool to always remember yourself and/or co-workers to work safely at height in various situations, we want to offer you the opportunity to download the infographic about the top-5 most cited fall protection standards in 2016. Send it to co-workers or hang it somewhere in the office to create awareness of the dangers and possible solutions that eliminate risks of falling from height.
