Assessing Fall Hazards

Preparing fall protection for the steel erection jobsite

Working in steel erection presents many instances where workers must work at heights and fall hazards are numerous. Failure to provide fall protection remains one of the most consistently cited OSHA violations, so keeping workers safe while they work is essential to any steel erection jobsite.

When working on steel structures, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard for fall protection is set out in section 1926.760 of 29 CFR 1926 Subpart R and requires that workers operating at any height more than 15ft above a lower level must be protected from fall hazards.

The first step to providing a safe working environment to employees is to make an assessment of the fall hazards present in the workplace. This includes calculating fall distance and evaluating proper equipment for the application.

Assessments save lives

A hazard assessment is a proactive step to identify risky conditions or dangerous environments before they cause an injury. ‘Before’ is the important word to focus on

David Ivey oversees product development of fall protection and safety equipment at Malta Dynamics. He also sits on the ANSI Z359 board and participates in many subcommittee meetings for safety products. Contact him at divey@maltadynamics.com. because a hazard assessment forces a close examination of worksite areas that might otherwise be overlooked or assumed to be safe.

The best method for fall protection is to eliminate the risk altogether by removing the worker’s need to be in hazardous areas at all. When this is not possible, the next best solution is to position fall prevention around the hazard, such as installing guardrails or other engineered safety fall protection systems that safeguard workers in dangerous areas.

Fall protection plans are valuable training materials that prepare the worker to operate at heights. When a hazard cannot be completely eliminated, fall protection plans outline the potential hazards and how to use the provided equipment to protect the worker in the worst-case scenario.

When that worst-case scenario does occur, a rapid rescue is essential for preventing secondary injuries and even death that can occur in a fall incident. Creating a Rescue Plan lays out a course of action to follow in the event of a fall and arms workers with the knowledge and processes they need to follow in the event of an emergency to prevent further injury or death. Rescue plans include quick rescue options, who to contact, emergency numbers, and how to properly report incidents to OSHA. Having a plan in place ahead of time and offering training on the appropriate emergency response actions saves lives.

“Once you get the job blueprints, you’ve really got to look through all of it and make sure your guys are trained up,” said Jason Farris, Vice President of Safety Compliance, of SEAA member company Cooper Steel, Shelbyville, Tenn.

Simply purchasing fall protection equipment for the crew isn’t going to suffice when an accident happens. The workers using the safety gear need proper training on how to use, inspect, and store it to prevent injury. Improper care and use will deem the safety measures useless.

Identifying fall hazards, building plans and finding the right solutions can be a time-consuming process, but there are many free resources online to help expedite the process. Malta Dynamics, also a member of SEAA, offers free hazard assessment and fall protection plan templates, available for download at the Training Safety Resources tab at maltadynamics.com.

Planning for fall clearance

“A big thing that people overlook is calculating their fall distance and making sure their fall protection system is accurate for the environment they will be working in,” said Farris.

Fall clearance is something that, by law, must be calculated and written out. The following are the five most important things to remember when calculating fall distance that will make the process easier.

1. Identify the length of the fall protection connection system that will be used; whether it’s a 6ft lanyard or a 30ft self-retracting lifeline, the number must be properly factored in.

2. Consider the height of the worker. Many companies require a 6ft height of the worker in the calculations but in reality, the height will vary depending on where the D-Ring is located on the employee’s back.

3. Then there’s free fall distance, the distance before the fall protection system engages,

OSHA allows up to 6ft, but self-retracting lanyards usually have a free fall distance of 2ft.

4. When the freefall distance stops, the deceleration distance starts. Deceleration distance is the distance during which personal protective equipment works to decelerate and arrest the fall.

5. Lastly, the safety factor needs to be considered. The safety factor is an added few feet and acts as a buffer to account for factors like the movement of the harness attachment or length that the harness might stretch when a fall is arrested.

Consider the equipment

“Most of the work we’re doing is from an aerial lift but when we do have to get out on the steel, we use beamers, beam attachments, stanchions, or horizontal lifelines,” Farris said.

Beam clamps are ideal because they attach to I or H Beams, create anchors for structural steel or beams, and adjust to fit a range of sizes. As the worker moves around the jobsite multiple beam clamps can be fitted to allow the user to achieve 100% tie off using dual self-retracting lifelines or dual lanyards.

Another fast and secure way to attach to an I Beam, or other structure, is to use a cross arm strap, or beam wrap. These anchors are reusable and often include a heavy-duty wear pad and reinforced stitching to protect the structural webbing from abrasion. The straps wrap around the beam and use two D-Rings of different sizes to make the attachment of the safety harness system fast, effective, and easy.

Beam stanchions are easy-to-install fall protection anchor points that fit a variety of beam sizes. Beam stanchions are helpful for creating anchor points on steel I Beams and can be clamped onto the beam as a single unit or in many cases, the stanchions are used in pairs to clamp into multiple beams to create a horizontal lifeline. This allows multiple users to tie-off and move around more freely while maintaining fall protection.

To create a horizontal lifeline for up to four people, steel erectors can use a 100 ft synthetic rope, a highly corrosion-resistant tensioner, four steel O-Rings, two self-locking carabiners, a tensioning wrench, two cross arm straps, and a sturdy double-braided high-visibility rope. These horizontal lifeline essentials combine to create a safe tie-off point for four workers with a minimum breaking strength of 5,620 lbs, and have the added advantage of being portable and durable.

Note, however, that according to OSHA, horizontal lifelines must be designed, installed, and used under the supervision of a qualified person, and must be designed to support twice the intended load. When using synthetic rope, be aware that it can cause cuts and burns.

It’s difficult to operate at heights, especially when there are welding materials, and other workers around to worry about, so hands-free positioning is an especially helpful asset. A rebar chain assembly is a work positioning device designed to allow workers to perform hands-free bodily adjustments while maintaining elevation off the ground and staying connected to a fall arrest device. The worker using the assembly can attach the swivel snap hooks to the side D-Rings on their harness, attach the swivel rebar hook to the anchor, lean away from the wall, and begin working with a wider range of movement.

Working with steel usually means building from the ground up and overhead anchorage can be hard to find, if not impossible. If tie-off at foot-level is a must, steel presents a hazard for encountering a sharp edge. A leading edge self-retracting lifeline is a personal fall arrest system that features a quick-action braking system and has been specifically designed for foot-level tie-off on leading edges when overhead anchorage is unavailable. Other retractable lifelines and lanyards are not rated to encounter a sharp edge like steel and will likely rip or snap altogether when employed to arrest a fall.

Permanent solutions

Engineered connection points allow for permanent fall protection to be installed. If the jobsite requires continued safety through fall protection, engineered connection points can save time and offer a reliable built-in

anchor solution for workers who will frequent the same spot, or for use after construction to allow for maintenance and alterations. Permanent anchors can be installed on steel beams and most likely feature a swivel top anchor with 360° of motion. It is vital to note that, per OSHA regulations, permanent anchors on beams require a structural analysis to 5,000 lbs. An anchor is only as strong and reliable as the structure it is attached to, don’t skip this step. A horizontal lifeline cable system can be an extremely helpful and time-saving piece of fall safety equipment. Permanent horizontal lifelines typically consist of a stainless steel cable, end and intermediate posts, a tensioning system, a shock absorption device and shuttles or attachment points to attach the connecting device. This permanent lifeline cable system must be designed and engineered with a Qualified Person to ensure code is met and safety is accounted for. The steel erection industry is a risky business with endless rewards. Proper preparation, execution and care will help ensure workers are protected and confident while they bring structures up from the ground. Keep them safe and provide the safest fall protection work environment possible. •

An Overlooked Fall Hazard: Unloading Trucks

Before the steel can go up, it needs to be delivered to the jobsite and unloaded. In this scenario where OSHA mandates that anyone operating 4’ above the lower level must wear fall protection for loading and unloading. In most instances, transport trucks, tankers, or trailers are packed high, and a worker needs to get up on the unit to unload.

Adding a permanent engineered system or a mobile fall protection system at the delivery site can solve this problem, but in the steel erection industry locating overhead anchor points can be near impossible. Mobile fall protection units can be positioned as needed to provide overhead anchor points anywhere loading and unloading may occur or for lower-level projects up to 34 ft.

The XSERIES Mobile Grabber family comes in an array of models with numerous assets to suit any steel erector jobsite. The X500 stationary unit has a 360° rotatable arm, leveling jacks, forklift pockets, and simple bolt together field assembly. For steel erectors in the lower-levels of projects, the XSERIES allows workers to function from 2 ft to 34 ft above the surface.

The XSERIES Mobile Grabber is one solution to the overhead anchorage shortage. Manufactured by Malta Dynamics, XSERIES is often referred to as ‘the anchor in the sky’ with the capability for five workers up to 310 lbs. to tie off up to 34 ft in the air.

All the XSERIES mobile units are fully road towable at posted highway speeds and boast thousands of pounds of anchor weight. They can be positioned next to the material storage site and are ideal for loading and unloading from the transport trucks. The XSERIES Mobile Grabbers are OSHA and ANSI compliant and can be a temporary or permanent solution for providing anchorage above the D-Ring.

“We’re proud to be a member of SEAA and to be a part of keeping steel erectors safe,” said Malta Dynamics CEO, Damian Lang.

3 Common Fall Protection Problems

By Bryan McClure

Product innovation has also helped to protect ironworkers from falls in ways we never expected 25 years ago. These innovations have led to a multitude of different products and manufacturers, all with different acceptable uses and component compatibilities. As a result, equipment is often used incorrectly or in the wrong situations. These are three common mistakes I frequently see on steel erection sites.

1. Use of a D-Ring Extender with a Leading Edge Retractable

On January 14, 2019, 3M issued a product advisory on the use of D-ring Extenders (also known as Pig Tails) with their leading edge self-retracting life lines. The problem that 3M discovered was that the D Ring extender would extend the external shock absorber further from the body during a fall which could lead to the shock pack coming in contact with the leading edge. When the shock pack contacted an unprotected sharp edge, it could sever.

Hooking an SRL to your dorsal D Ring without an extender is very difficult to do by yourself. Needless to say, when I deliver this news to ironworkers it almost always is met with exasperation. Instead, the best way to connect the SRL to your D ring is to have a buddy help you. Not every leading edge SRL has an external shock absorber, and some are compatible with a D Ring extender. The only way to know for certain is to read the user manual.

Fall arrest during decking operations is never easy. Rarely do deckers have the ability to anchor to an overhead structure. Consequently, they must tie off at foot level. The most user-friendly way to do this is to install a plate anchor to a fully attached sheet of decking with some self-tapping screws. Hinged anchors are very popular for this because they are inexpensive and light weight. Most hinged anchor manufacturers require that the end user attach their lanyard to the anchor so that the fall occurs in the long axis. Often, I see the anchor being tied off in the short axis. This configuration is too narrow, making it weak, which could result in failure if a fall were to occur. Not every plate anchor has this requirement. The only way to know for certain that you are using it correctly is to read the user manual.

3. Use of 6 ft. Free Fall Rated Lanyards for Foot Level Tie Off

Probably the most popular fall arrest systems for ironworkers are beam anchors (also known as beamers) or cable anchors (cheater cables). Most ironworkers worth their weight in salt will walk the top flange of a beam. The problem with this when using a beamer or cheater cable is that you are exposing yourself to more than a 6 ft. free fall if you are tying off below your D ring. In fact, whenever you are tied off below your D ring, you are going to free fall more than 6 ft. with a six-foot-long static length lanyard, because you are increasing the free fall distance beyond 6 ft. In this scenario, it is better to be outfitted with a 12 ft. free fall rated lanyard.

The only way to tell what your lanyard is rated for is to look at the tag attached to it. Most 6 ft. free fall rated lanyards are marked with black letters on a white background, while 12 ft. free fall rated lanyards usually have white letters on a black background. The only way to know for certain that you are using the correct lanyard is to read the user manual and or the tags on the lanyard.

Referring to user’s manuals for all fall protection equipment is essential. If you do not have the user manual, most manufacturers make manuals available for download from their website. No one likes to read instructions but it really is a must when it comes to the equipment, we are depending on to send our employees home safe to their families every day.

Bryan McClure, CPTD, CHST, is a principal partner of Trivent Safety Consulting, Westminster, Colo., and a former ironworker. Contact him at bryanm@triventsc.com.