During an audit at a large industry, we were quite shocked at the number of safety gaps, including lack of fall protection. Employees were working on tanks without tie off options and at times used unrated pipes to tie-off; and roofs were without parapet walls, warnings, or anchor points.
Plus, they didn’t have a rescue plan if workers fell when wearing a harness when working from heights in other areas.
The thing is, they knew their gaps and did nothing. The result could be catastrophic and yet preventable
On May 1st OSHA announced a National Emphasis Program to prevent falls, the leading cause of fatal workplace injuries and the violation most frequently cited by OSHA during construction inspections. Companies shouldn’t wait for this emphasis to do what is right and best for workers. It is never worth the gamble, for many reasons, but not least of which are low morale and low employee engagement when they know the company doesn’t care enough to ensure health and safety.