Fall hazards remain a common problem across multiple industries and workplaces.
In 2019, worker deaths stemming from slips, trips and falls climbed 11.3% from the previous year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Meanwhile, OSHA’s standard on fall protection – general requirements (1926.501) has topped the agency’s Top 10 list of most frequently cited standards for 11 consecutive fiscal years.
Other standards related to inherent fall risks and that routinely populate the list include those regarding ladders (1926.1053), scaffolding (1926.451) and fall protection – training requirements (1926.503).
“Most workers have some safety knowledge, but how do we get people to consistently apply the safety practices that they know?” asked Bradley Evanoff, occupational health physician and professor of occupational and environmental medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. “How can an employer create a work culture where all employees take an active role in making the workplace safer and feel like they can speak up if they see a problem?”
Factors may overlap
During a December 2019 National Safety Council webinar on strategies for preventing slips, trips and falls, Amber Joseph, technical consultant at Liberty Mutual Insurance, identified several contributing factors. Among them:
- Walking surfaces
- Obstacles
- People and activity
- Footwear
- Cleaning
- Contaminants
“A lot of times, you’ll have overlap within these, so it may be a walking surface and a footwear discussion depending on the type of contaminant that you have in place,” Joseph said. “But really, it’s looking at this as a whole, and looking at it as, ‘All right, I need to address these areas as I move forward.’”
On the surface
Under OSHA’s standard on walking-working surfaces for general industry (1910.22), employers must ensure “all places of employment, passageways, storerooms, service rooms and walking-working surfaces are kept in a clean, orderly and sanitary condition.”
Walking-working surfaces also must be maintained free of hazards such as sharp or protruding objects, loose boards, corrosion, leaks, spills, snow, and ice. Additionally, hazardous conditions on surfaces must be “corrected or repaired before an employee uses the walking-working surface again.”
The standard adds that “if the correction or repair cannot be made immediately, the hazard must be guarded to prevent employees from using the walking-working surface until the hazard is corrected or repaired.”
NIOSH suggests that employers select flooring material based on the work that will be performed in the area. The agency also notes the importance of the factor of coefficient of friction – a measurement for the propensity to slip on a given walkway surface. The agency states that flooring with “a higher static coefficient of friction is safer” and recommends flooring with a CoF of 0.5 or greater for high-risk areas.
In November, the University of Pittsburgh announced that two researchers from its Swanson School of Engineering intend to use a NIOSH grant to develop a new model of flooring friction performance with the aim to prevent falls on the job. Citing data from Liberty Mutual, a Pitt press release notes that workplace slips and falls carry an annual expense of $10 billion in workers’ compensation claims.
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Feet of strength
NIOSH recommends that workers wear slip-resistant shoes when operating on wet or contaminated surfaces. The footwear also should be resistant to oil, chemicals and heat.
Again, the higher the CoF, the greater the resistance to slipping.
The Canadian research organization IRSST in 2020 published a free, 10-page online guide that offers a step-by-step process for choosing proper work shoes or boots. The organization advises employers to analyze the characteristics of the work environment and tasks to be performed, and, if possible, obtain from suppliers footwear models that workers can test under actual job conditions.
“A careful selection of footwear, one that exceeds the minimal safety requirements, can help reduce the risks of slipping and falling,” the guide states. “Several factors must be considered to prevent slipping (such as environmental, organizational or individual factors).”
Going residential
In 2020, the construction industry accounted for 22% of nonfatal injuries and illnesses involving days away from work related to falls to a lower level, according to Injury Facts – a NSC statistics database.
Experts at CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and Training believe falls are a particular concern in the residential construction sector, which, Evanoff says, generally is more scattered and features fewer resources as well as a lower level of safety training.
In FY 2021, the top section cited under OSHA’s standard on fall protection – general requirements, with 3,706 violations, was 1926.501(b)(13), which states: “Each employee engaged in residential construction activities 6 feet or more above lower levels shall be protected by guardrail systems, safety net systems or personal fall arrest system unless another provision in paragraph (b) of this section provides for an alternative fall protection measure.”
Evanoff and his colleagues are working to adapt CPWR’s Foundations for Safety Leadership training program to residential construction. One key attribute is helping frontline supervisors in the sector enhance their leadership and communication skills so that they can develop and encourage safe behaviors among the workers they supervise.
“The construction industry has traditionally been a very tough industry,” Evanoff said, “and when people want to make a point, they may just talk louder and use more colorful adjectives. Helping supervisors develop better communication and leadership tools will make them more effective at creating a workplace environment that promotes good safety practices.”
By embracing the growth of this aspect of workplace culture, Evanoff said, organizations ultimately can help prevent falls and injuries by placing an emphasis on safety and accountability. Frontline supervisors are critically important to safety, and they need strong support from leadership.
“All industry leaders want a safe workplace, but there are often competing messages that prioritize production speed,” Evanoff said. “Companies need consistent messaging and action that show the importance of safety.”
A year-round endeavor
Each spring, OSHA, NIOSH and CPWR partner on the National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction.
Still, the agencies and organization encourage employers to focus on fall prevention throughout the year, especially as crews, jobsites and projects shift.
OSHA’s standard on fall protection – training requirements states that employers “shall provide a training program for each employee who might be exposed to fall hazards.” Programs “shall enable each employee to recognize the hazards of falling and shall train each employee in the procedures to be followed in order to minimize these hazards.”
Tips from CPWR to support workplace fall prevention programs include:
Focus on rescue. Do you have a plan in place in the event someone falls? Make sure everyone knows what it is. “Plans for rescue, those are often overlooked, but should be an integral part of creating the pre-job fall protection plan,” said Jessica Bunting, director of CPWR’s Research to Practice initiative. “Especially if there’s work from height 6 feet or more.”
Create or revise your written fall prevention plan. Assemble a task force to develop a project-specific fall protection plan. “Just going through the jobsite and thinking about the fall-related hazards that are going to be faced,” Bunting said. “Thinking about controls or PPE needed. What can be done to remove the hazards? Is there a way to get rid of ladders on the jobsite so that you don’t have to worry about them? Can you have guardrails installed? All of these things that you need to think about before the work starts. But then there’s also just the daily planning for safety that needs to happen.”
Provide fall prevention training. Remind supervisors and lead workers that if they work safely and use fall protection correctly, their co-workers are more likely to do so.
Share a testimonial. Invite a previously injured worker or family member to speak at the jobsite, or use video clips or written testimonials. “All of these fall injuries, either fatal or nonfatal, are preventable,” CPWR Data Center Director Sue Dong said. “We should let people know this. Not thinking that in construction they have to be injured. They can work safely if everyone takes time for this, specifically employers. Provide a safe environment to all workers.”
