Workers sometimes think that if they weigh 200 pounds and the rope is rated at 12,000 pounds of tensile strength, they will be protected. Wingfield asserted that horizontal lifelines are "very misunderstood" for a number of reasons. "It requires more worker training, more engineering and more sign-off by qualified people because there are more anchoring options." "In the past five or 10 years, people have started to understand that horizontal lifelines are more complex than the vertical system," Cox says. Employers and employees like this form of engineered fall protection because it allows for more freedom of movement and productivity. Unlike a vertical or standard lanyard harness system, it allows the worker to move horizontally without having to change anchorage points. This method of tying off uses a cable connected to two anchorage points at the same level. The problem is he's guessing, and his life is at stake."Įxperts believe that the growing popularity of horizontal lifeline systems raises a new set of training, installation and maintenance issues that are too often ignored by users. "He's doing what the majority of the population does: doing the best he can with what he's got. Gravitec's Kevin Denis says he likes to use the photo on pages 72 and 73 in his classes because it's a snapshot of the real world. In addition to training, correct installation that is checked by an engineer, regular inspections and proper maintenance are critical - and often overlooked - elements in the effective management of fall protection.Īlthough the latest fall protection technology raises new safety issues, potentially fatal mistakes commonly made with the most basic equipment are a good place to start to understand Cox's "dirty little secret." "My experience is that 75 to 80 percent of the companies I see are facing fatal hazards," Duden says. The situation is even worse, according to Bruce Duden, business development manager for Evan Corp., a design-build firm specializing in engineered fall protection systems with headquarters in Jamestown, R.I. "I see dangerous situations with about half the clients I work with who have spent money on fall protection and think they are doing the right thing," says Greg Small, P.Eng., M.Eng., vice president of engineering at Gravitec. Other experts in the field agree that the improper use of fall protection equipment is widespread. In fact, using fall protection equipment improperly may be worse than using nothing at all, because workers with a false sense of security may not be as careful as they would be if they were not tied off.
"Workers are attaching into systems that, in the event of a fall, are not going to arrest that fall." "More often than not, it's what I call 'know nothing, fear nothing,'" Wingfield says. The falls could be the result of using the wrong kind of equipment for a particular job. "Now we're seeing fatalities with ANSI (American National Standards Institute)-approved equipment." "But nowadays, we're starting to see a new type of fatality," says Randall Wingfield, president of Gravitec Systems Inc., a Seattle-based company that specializes in fall protection education, engineering, consultation and equipment sales. Traditionally, the failure to use any kind of fall protection equipment has been the most common cause of fall-related fatalities, and this still is probably the case, according to OSHA compliance officers. That's why more people are getting injured or killed." While sales figures for the fall protection industry are not as readily available, several industry experts agree with Cox that business has been growing, especially over the past five years.Ĭox offered his solution to the riddle: "The dirty little secret in fall protection is that there is not enough training to use or maintain the product properly. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, except for a two-year hiatus in the late 1990s, the number of workers dying from falls to a lower level has been rising steadily for eight years (see graph on page 74). "But the tragedy is that even though more product is being purchased, there are more and more deaths."Īt least one part of Cox's paradox can be easily confirmed. The fall protection market has expanded, even exploded, over the past 10 years," says Ron Cox, vice president for the fall protection division at Bacou-Dalloz, a leading global manufacturer of personal protective equipment.
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