Top Five Fall Arrest Myths

Myth #1 –A 5,000# anchor point is required for personal fall arrest

First of all, it is important to read the end of this paragraph! OSHA, and manufacturers of personal fall arrest equipment, have a minimum anchorage requirement of twice the anticipated with force to be applied on the system should a fall occur. This determination needs to be made by a qualified person, and/or an engineer. What this could mean in an extreme interpretation, would be that an engineer could actually determine the workers weight in particular, and design in anchorage system specifically for that workers weight at twice the anticipated force. Typical forces experienced with shock absorbing equipment is around 800 foot-pounds of force. Engineering to this typical value puts an anchor point at around 1600 foot-pounds minimum rated anchorage. The 5000 pound value was picked as a benchmark for a worker looking around and eyeballing a potential anchor point. Please note, however, that when it comes to fall Anchorage. More is usually better. Therefore, every attempt should be made to find the strongest anchorage possible, not just the minimum requirement.

Myth #2-fall restraint does not have a minimum anchor point rating

Fall restraint is when a person is rigged so that they cannot fall over the edge of an elevated platform. While it may seem intuitively true, that there would be a very small value used for restraint, it would seem that there would always be some value given by OSHA. The values I’ve been able to find is 3,500 pounds rated anchorage for restraint. While this may seem unusually high and restrictive (in that one could simply find a 5,000 pound anchor point and use PFAS) is a value that has been selected by OSHA. New fall restraint regulations are coming out shortly that may change this. While I personally think that in anchorage in the several hundred pound range would be sufficient, more is always better, ultimately.

Myth #3-if I fall in a harness, I need to simply wait for rescue

This is absolutely false. There is a phenomenon called suspension trauma, which may occur in a worker hanging from a harness, and being idle. The first thing you must do when hanging from a harness is to ensure that you are not bleeding somewhere. Check yourself over, and if you are bleeding use the proper first aid procedures to control or stop the bleeding. The next thing to do is to be aware that your legs hanging limp are going to cause blood pooling and a potentially fatal condition. Keep your legs active, especially your calves by pointing your toes, moving your legs, and trying to scoot back into your harness into more of a sitting position. What you’re trying to do is to keep the leg straps from cutting off circulation of the femoral arteries to your legs. In addition, workers from above may be able to pass down one or two ropes (or extension cords) with loops on the ends for you to put your feet into. They can then tie the ropes off and you could stand up in the stirrups and take some pressure off the harness straps. Again the important thing is to keep moving and active until rescue. After rescue, do not lie down! Remain in preferable a sitting position for 5 to 10 minutes and or, a standing position if you are able to or if someone can help hold you up. After about 10 minutes, you should be able to lie down with no problems. This allows any potentially toxic blood from your legs from overloading your heart muscles.

Myth #4-a standard shock absorbing lanyard is your best protection.

What has been the standard of the industry for decades, the standard six-foot shock absorbing lanyard is on its way out. New style lanyards now have stronger locking gates that can absorb the impact of a fall, allowing lanyards now to be wrapped back to themselves. This is especially convenient around scissors lifts, catwalks, and piping systems. However, even more importantly, is the advent of new lightweight self-retracting lifeline’s, or SRL’S. These SRL’s are now around the same price and weight as standard six-foot lanyards. However, SRL’s offer many advantages. They are effective at a much lower elevated height, even less than 6 feet above the lower level. They activate quicker, put less stress on the body, allow a lesser chance of hitting an object on the way down, and perhaps the most important feature, allow for self-rescue. There is very little strain on the body using an SRL as opposed to falling 6 feet with a shock absorbing lanyard.

Myth #5 – all fall arrest equipment, is the same.

On one hand, while all fall arrest equipment must comply with ANSI standards, equipment can vary widely among different manufacturers. There are complete fall arrest packages including an anchorage, vertical lifeline, shock absorbing lanyard and harness for $100. Then there is fall arrest equipment where the harness itself might run as high as $400. The differences will be in the ease-of-use and comfort when working and/or when hanging in the harness awaiting rescue. Generally speaking, the more expensive, the lighter weight and more comfortable the equipment will be. If you use fall arrest equipment on regular basis, it would probably pay to get the better equipment. There are no known cases of inexpensive personal fall arrest equipment failing due to their cost.

Top Five Fall Prevention Myths

Myth #1 – guardrails are to be used just like any other railing

This is absolutely false. Guardrails are to be considered for accidental use only-that is when someone trips and falls against a guardrail. Guardrails by nature on a construction site are a temporary item and should not be considered as part of the finished building. Guardrails should not be leaned against, nor should you place your back against a guardrail and lean back into it.

Myth #2- guardrails are rated at 200 pounds.

The top rail of a guardrail has to withstand without failure a 200 pound outward force, with simultaneously a 200 pound downward force to the top rail applied at any place along the rail. The mid-rail will is required to withstand without failure a force of 150 pounds outward force with simultaneously a 150 pound downward force applied in any place along the rail. The key to remember is that all four of these forces are to be applied at the same time to the top rail and midrail. This amounts to a total of 350 pounds of total outward force, along with 350 pounds of total downward force applied at any point along the guardrail. Please note that the top guardrail is not allowed to flex or sag more than 3 inches with the downward and outward force is applied. These are tremendously high values placed on a guardrail system, and in virtually all cases, wooden guardrail systems do not comply with the standard. There are some manufactured brackets for wooden guardrails, which may satisfy this requirement. Bottom line – don’t trust guardrails.

Myth #3- there are no problems with wire rope guardrails.

Actually, there is typically one significant problem with wire rope guardrails. While wire rope guardrails can easily achieve the 200 pound and 150 pound guard rail rating, the issue is sag. Again, guardrails cannot sag more than 3 inches(and in no case less than 39 inches AFF) with the 200 pound weight applied downwardly and outwardly to the top wire rope. I have been on hundreds of job sites, and can say with confidence that virtually every wire rope guardrails system will easily sag more than 3 inches in a downward or outward fashion when far less than 200 pounds is applied to the guardrail. Wire rope guardrails need to have intermediate posts between columns to split the span and allow less sag.

Myth #4- it is okay to leave an opening in the guardrail for ladder access

While it’s obviously true that an opening is required in a guardrail for ladder access, a raw opening to below adjacent to the ladder is not the best practice, and allows for a fall exposure. You should build an L-shaped offset in the guardrail system so that no one can directly back into the opening inadvertently. In addition, if someone goes around the offset to access the ladder the actual opening to the ladder in the guardrail system needs to be no greater than 19 inches.

Myth #5 – it is okay to walk on floor covers

Absolutely not! Floor covers, much like guardrails are not to be used. Workers should make every effort to avoid stepping on floor covers. This is why floor covers are marked with the words “hole” or “cover” to point out the hazard and to allow the worker to instinctively avoid walking on it. Floor covers can certainly fail, and frequently do. They are rarely as strong as the floor itself.

Top Five Fall Awareness Myths

Myth #1 – a written fall protection plan is an option

While OSHA allows an employer to prepare a written fall protection plan that essentially allows for fall awareness only-not physical protection from the fall, there is one important caveat. OSHA requires the employer to “prove” that conventional fall protection cannot be used. For anyone who has taken a logic class in school, it is impossible to prove a negative. Therefore, it is impossible for a contractor to conclusively prove that conventional fall protection cannot be used. The fall protection industry is a changing one, and new products and solutions are out on the market every year, even every month. It would be a safe bet that if a fall occurred, OSHA would quickly determine that conventional fall protection could’ve been used.
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Top Five PPE Myths

Myth #1 –I can wear a hardhat backwards if I choose to.

This is one of the more vexing problems on the job site. All too often, employees want to wear their hardhats backwards for no reason other than aesthetics. This is become so prevalent that now manufacturers are placing reverse donning stickers inside their hard hats. With the stickers the manufacturer is claiming and allowing the employee to where the hard hat backwards. However, most OSHA inspectors will not allow hardhats to be worn backwards unless there is a bona fide reason to do so. For instance in the mechanical crafts, who work overhead frequently, it may be appropriate. In addition, of course, hardhats are typically worn backwards for welding operations etc.
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Top Five Gloves Myths

Myth #1 – Cost is an indicator of quality

Mostly true, however, it depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for looks, the ability to repel water and dexterity top grain leather is best (and most expensive). However, if you’re looking for ruggedness, split leather (suede looking) is the best choice. It performs significantly better than top- grain leather in terms of wear, abrasion and tensile strength. The choice should be based on the level of protection alone. Top-grain leather is always more expensive than the suede leather version of the same glove.

Myth #2 – More layers mean more protection

Layered construction in the palm area of leather gloves also leads one to believe that a patch palm is going to double your protection. The reality with most patch-palm leather glove styles is that the patch exists as a kind of bridge between two pieces of leather to create a full palm. The fact of the matter is, if the thread wears away on the patch, the glove palm splits in two.

Myth #3 – Chemically-resistant gloves protect you from all chemicals

Use your MSDS sheet to determine what your clove has to chemically resist. However, it’s also important to know what the glove cannot come into contact with that is of utmost importance. A PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) glove, for example, which stands up to many of the harshest chemicals and solvents known to man, will dissolve in water. Another example is exposing latex gloves to , say gasoline. Knowing what chemicals a glove protects against is important, but inquiring as to which chemicals may weaken it is important, too.

Myth #4 – If the glove is heat resistant, you won’t get burnt

When it comes to a glove’s heat resistance, be sure to look for heat resistant/ insulative wording. While a glove my withstand temperature contact up to 1,000 F without burning or melting, it may do little to protect the hand inside it, not without a really good layer of insulation in between. That’s because heat resistance and insulating properties are two different things. Just because the material can take the temperature, doesn’t mean the glove has been designed to insulate against that temperature.

Myth #5 – Certain gloves are cut-proof

When talking about the property of cut resistance, the most important distinction to make is that gloves are cut-resistant, as opposed to cut-proof. In fact, there is not a glove in existence that can claim to be cut-proof. I have proven this many times in training classes.

MYTH #1 – Arc flash explosions do not happen… I have never seen one.

Hopefully, most electrical workers will never see and an flash accident. However, OSHA reports there are an average of 10 Arc flash incidents everyday in the US. There are also studies that indicate up to 80% of all Electrical Worker injuries are not due to shock, but due to external burn injuries created by an arc flash explosion.
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Job Site Safety Checklist

Job Location:
Supervisor: Date:
Inspector:
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CONSTRUCTION SAFETY RULES

All of our safety rules must be obeyed. Failure to do so will result in strict disciplinary actions being taken.

We are especially concerned with the four major causes of death in the construction industry, namely: Fall hazards, struck by hazards, electrical hazards, and caught between hazards.
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OSHA’s New Rules Substantially Increases Penalties

On April 22, 2010, Dr. David Michaels, head of OSHA, sent a letter to his 10 regional administrators outlining the new rules in an effort to blatantly increase the dollar amount of penalties for deterrence. The penalty changes will become effective over the next several months.
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Compressed Gas Cylinders- Storage & Handling

Some of the most dangerous devices may be found on your jobsites and in your shop. Compressed gas cylinders of all types have a tremendous capacity for injury from mistreatment or mishandling. The sheer energy storage that is contained in a cylinder (especially Oxygen) makes this equivalent to storing and handling a bomb. Oxygen cylinders are typically pressurized to 2,000 P.S.I, and acetylene cylinders are typically pressurized to 250 P.S.I. The following will cover the common high-pressure oxygen/ acetylene cylinder regulations outlined by OSHA in Subpart J “Welding & Cutting”, and should be a part of your safety program. Most of the handling techniques addressed here will apply to CO2, LP, and other similar gas cylinders.
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