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It’s Deja Vu All Over Again! Lack of fall protection continues to be the leading cause of incidents

By Chuck Kelly | Dec 11, 2024
worker safety
"Deja vu” is a phenomenon where people feel like they’ve experienced a situation before. It is French for “already seen.”

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"Deja vu” is a phenomenon where people feel like they’ve experienced a situation before. It is French for “already seen.”

And when I think of fall protection, I can’t help but think of a quip by the late Yankee catcher Yogi Berra: “It’s deja vu all over again!” We’ve already seen the positive outcomes using proper fall protection can produce. Unfortunately, we’ve also seen what the lack of fall protection results in—serious injury, and sometimes fatalities.

For the last several years, usually in May, OSHA has conducted a National Stand Down for Fall Protection. I’m sure many of you and your companies have participated to emphasize the importance of using proper fall protection practices.

In 2022, I wrote a column for this magazine on fall protection and its place as the leading cause of injury and fatalities in the industry (see “Staying Safe While Working Aloft” in the March 2022 issue of LINE CONTRACTOR). Once again, I can point to lack of proper fall protection as being one of OSHA’s leading causation factors for injuries and fatalities, and the agency’s most frequently cited standard for more than a decade.

Why does this keep happening?

The simple question we should ask is, why? Do we provide the proper training mechanisms to ensure workers understand what is required? Do we provide all the necessary safety equipment to protect our staff? Do we enforce the rules? If we can answer yes to those questions, then we need to reflect and ask ourselves one more—what are we not doing to prevent these types of incidents from occurring?

Look, we all know what is required in the fall protection arena, and, for the sake of brevity, I won’t get into listing specifics here. Let’s just say this: fall protection in construction is required when working out of a bucket, on a tower, atop a substation transformer, on a low sloped roof, from a scaffold or on any other walking/working surface above 6 feet. It’s also required when someone climbs. You can view the entirety of the standard in 29 CFR 1926.500, Subpart M on OSHA’s website.

So why does this keep happening to the point that we continually see OSHA emphasizing the need for proper fall protection year after year? I would say that the rules are very clear and allow enough flexibility for safe work methods while using fall protection.

Employee focus groups

Rather than just doing the stand down and emphasizing the need for proper fall protection practices, I suggest we look at engaging workers in focus groups to determine why these incidents continue to occur. Many times we can find solutions to key problem areas by engaging the workforce. Seeking their input is one of the ways to gain employee buy-in for various rules and work practices, and focus groups have proven to be a successful method in creating a cohesive environment so workers can have a say in how work is performed. 

The crux of the matter is, what factors are causing these incidents to continue to occur even though employees know better? Focus groups can assist you in better understanding the issue and bring underlying concerns to the surface pertaining to the organization’s culture. Many times there are issues beyond the training and practice domain that can serve as detriments to successful work outcomes. Some of the issues may not even pertain to safety.

Just as important as the information gained during the focus groups is the development of an action plan with designated timeline targets to demonstrate the organization’s commitment to providing a better workplace for the safety of all. 

This column could have been written about  many topics (e.g., lockout/tagout, grounding, confined space, etc.) because everything listed can be applied to the cause of continued incidents in an organization. I chose fall protection because it continues to be a leading cause of accidents and OSHA citations. 

About The Author

KELLY, president of Kelly Consulting & Mediation Services, has worked with utility industry leaders on safety, labor relations and human resources for more than 30 years. Reach him at 540-686-0118 or [email protected].

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