IN THE FIELD
Summing Up Safety Tips and best practices for steel erection activity
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ix times per year, SEAA’s Safety & Education Committee shares best practices and safety reminders for industry professionals. In 2021, the two most popular topics based on email engagement had to do with fall prevention and rigging. Each Safety Flash article contains additional resources for managers. Read the full content in the Safety Flash archive at seaa.net/news.
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1. Focus on Fall Prevention Training By Mike Quinn, MAS Building & Bridge, Inc.
SEAA annually supports the National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls. In 2021, SEAA launched a landing page of resources, which included 7 Tips from a Steel Erector on how to get most from your Stand-Down. According to 2019 BLS data, there were 1,066 fatalities in construction. Among structural iron and steel workers, the fatality rate is 26.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. While the data does not indicate how many deaths in the steel construction segment were caused by falls, this is a known risk. Working near leading edges and at height is part of the job of an ironworker. Get resources at seaa.net/standdown.
2. The No. 1 Rigging Mistake Taking Place on Construction Sites
By Scott Seppers, Trivent Safety Consulting
A common rigging mistake seen on the jobsite is failure to properly account for sling tension. Sling tension occurs when the slings are rigged at an angle; this directly affects capacity. The same misunderstanding of sling angle on capacity often happens when basket hitches are rigged to a single attachment point, whether the sling is vertical or at an angle from the center of gravity. Photo Credit: Industrial Training International 20 | THE STEEL ERECTORS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
