The Importance of Fall Restraints

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Fall Restraints and the Importance of Their Use Robert H.Swarmer III Columbia Southern University Abstract Fall protection is vital to the safety of a job worksite and its workers. The timeframes set on supervisors to get jobs done makes some believe that they can short cut safety to get the job completed on or before the allotted timeframe. By shortcutting one step in safety can cause a ripple effect on a job site resulting in an injury or fatality. Falls in construction is the highest risk at job sites. According to the United States Department of Labor “the leading cause of workers deaths on construction sites were falls, followed by struck by and object, electrocution and caught in/between. Fall Restraints and the Importance of Their Use Fall protection had little bearing on job sites before the inaction of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970. During the 1970’s and 1080’s the use of body belts became the norm for workers who were to perform tasks at heights. It wasn’t until the 1990’s that the full body harness began to exert its presence in the workplace (Rigidlifelines.com, 2012). But, all of the safety equipment on the market wouldn’t have stopped the accident that happened on October 25, 2011 in Stamford, Connecticut at the Chelsea Pier Sports Complex. American Building LLC was erecting a metal building for Trumbull Contracting Firm for the new sports complex when there was an accident involving a fall. It was stated that the workers on the roof were wearing body harnesses but three of four of them were not tied to an anchor point. Also noted the company had not provided the proper training for the workers that could be exposed to falls up to forty three feet while engaged in steel installation (Gordon, 2012). The worker that fell died due to his injuries from the fall.

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