You are on a walking/working surface 35 feet above a lower level. Your boot snags on something, you lose your balance, and you are now falling toward the ground. What would your thoughts be? If you’re a slow thinker, not much because in approximately 1 second your moving body will be suffering the consequences of a severe impact with an immovable object. The ground may give a little, but your body will give a lot! Falls from 35 feet generally result in severe injury or death.
If you have the presence of mind during this plunge to not panic and not fret about your impending doom, you can enjoy your 1 second weightless ride to earth. During this short ride, you can feel the wind in your face, observe the ever changing scenery as it whizzes by faster and faster as you accelerate — objects on the ground growing in size as you approach impact. You might even catch a glimpse of other workers gasping in horror as they realize the danger that YOU are in. Would your mind be racing or would it be frozen? Would your limbs flail, hang limp, or straighten out? Would you have time to experience true, unadulterated fear, or would the experience be over before your body and mind had time to react?
Would you shout out in anger or be unable to catch your breath? Would you try to land on your feet, your side, stomach, flat on your back? Would you be trying to figure out the least painful landing or would you just be shaking uncontrollably? One stupid, harebrained mistake and possibly you are a moment away from non-existence. It just isn’t fair — it just isn’t right!
How’s this for a happy ending? Your safety harness, properly attached to an appropriate anchorage, is forcefully, safely, and surely slowing your fall down in a very controlled and reassuring manner. Almost instantaneously, before you even fall a few feet, the elasticity in the lanyard is slowing you down. During this falling process, because you truly are not experiencing any fear, you may have the presence of mind to say, “Drat!”, for falling in the first place, but that should be about the extent of your anger and frustration.
Hopefully, you will never experience the “thrill” of falling at work. But if you do, doesn’t it make sense to have a safe fall? Doesn’t it make sense to use fall protection? It is required by law; it is required by company policy; it is required by common sense — it is required because it could save your life!
Consider fall protection as an insurance policy. Instead of paying premiums to get money after injury or death, you spend a few minutes prior to actual work to prevent injury or death.
What specific training is required for high hazard and employees requiring fall protection? Required training is task- and equipment-specific for any employee who uses fall protection or equipment specified under Subpart D.
Check out our online training to prevent hazards in the workplace.
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