CONTRIBUTORS | ROOFING
OSHA’s New Fall-prevention Rules
KEN KEMPA
It’s a building manager’s responsibility to know and follow the requirements when sending up a staffer or contractor to work at height
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id you know that falls are the leading cause of traumatic workplace injury in the United States? Before you send up your employees or contractors to work at height, here are a few things you should know. For the past nine consecutive years, fall protection violations have led OSHA’s top-10 citations list. More than 48% of the citations issued in 2019 were related to working at height! As a building manager, you need to understand definitions of the words/topics now addressed by OSHA and their requirements.
DEFINITIONS & REQUIREMENTS Anchorage: What many used to call an anchor, OSHA now clarifies as a secure point of attachment for equipment such as lifelines, lanyards, deceleration devices or rope descent systems. It may be an installed item, or a fixed structural member such as a beam, column or girder, or a floor or wall, that is an integral part of a structure. Any anchorage must be capable of safely supporting the impact forces applied to it during a fall by the fall protection system. Anchorages must be certified every 10-years, and be inspected annually by a certified person? It’s the responsibility of the building manager to ensure this is performed. Fall Protection: Any equipment, device or system that prevents a worker from falling from an elevation or mitigates 28 BUILDING MANAGEMENT HAWAII | MARCH 2020
the effect of such a fall. Under the final rule, building managers may choose from the following fall protection options: 1. Guardrail System – A barrier erected along an unprotected or exposed side, edge, or another area of a walking-working surface, to prevent workers from falling to a lower level. 2. Personal Fall Arrest System (PFAS) – A system that arrests/stops a fall before the worker contacts a lower level. Consists of a body harness, anchorage and connector, and may include a lanyard, deceleration device, lifeline or a suitable combination. Similar to OSHA’s construction standards, the final rule prohibits the use of body belts as part of a personal fall arrest system. 3. Travel Restraint System – A combination of an anchorage, anchorage connector, lanyard (or other means of connection), and body support, to eliminate the possibility of a worker going over the unprotected edge or side of a walking-working surface. 4. Ladder Safety System – A system attached to a fixed ladder designed to eliminate or reduce the possibility of a worker falling off the ladder. A ladder safety system usually consists of a carrier, safety sleeve, lanyard, connectors, and body harness. Cages and wells are not considered ladder safety systems. Designated Area: A distinct portion of a walking-working surface delineated by a warning line, within which work may be performed without additional fall protection. Warning Line: A barrier erected to warn workers they are approaching the boundary of an unprotected side or edge. It delineates an area in which work may take place without using other means of fall protection. Workers may enter the demarcated area only if the employer provides them with the required fall hazard training and assigns work to be performed in that area. In part, a warning line is: 1. A rope, tape, wire or chain warning employees they’re approaching an unprotected edge or side (200-pound minimum breaking strength). 2. Clearly visible from a distance of 25 feet, and anywhere within the designated area. 3. Erected as close to the work area as possible, while still allowing the task to be performed. 4. Installed so that its lowest point, including sag, is not less than 34-inches and not more than 39-inches above the
