Job Site Safety Is A State Of Mind
Safety and scaffolding is more than a state of mind ... it is literally survival, of both your workers and your business.
Many times safety is taken for granted. The Scaffold Industries Association publishes a monthly newsletter that has become famous for its depictions of unsafe scaffolding methods.
Every month the newsletter features a new and most times unbelievable contraption that is being used for scaffolding on the job site. The illustrations, which are actual pictures, can range from sagging boards stretched between step ladders, to tube scaffolding on casters set up in the back of a pickup truck.
OSHA regulations for safe scaffolding are specific, and if you are involved in a scaffolding injury your insurance can go out of sight, workers' compensation can skyrocket, and the end result is that it can put you out of business.
Observing the safe use of scaffolding takes very little time and in the long run it will save both lives as well as heartache and financial disaster.
Thou Shall Nots Of Scaffolding
1. Never ride on a rolling tower.
2. Never use additional devices such as ladders, boxes, tools, etc., to try to gain greater heights.
3. Never climb the crossbraces or attempt to access the platform from the crossbrace side of the scaffold.
4. Never attempt to move the tower from above by pulling on ceiling rafters, etc.
5. Be very careful around electricity. Many deaths occur when the scaffold accidentally comes in contact with power lines. Minimum distance of 10 feet should be maintained between scaffold and power lines at all times.
6. Never use boxes, boards, barrels, concrete blocks, or any other unstable objects to support scaffold legs.
In addition, there are a number of less obvious guidelines that should be adhered to.
Rolling towers, for instance, are often built too high. Maximum freestanding heights of any scaffold tower is limited to four times the smallest base dimension. Some states are even more restrictive. If it is necessary that a worker reach a greater height than this formula allows, the scaffold must include four outriggers (one for each corner) to increase smaller base dimension.
Double-rail guard railing is required on all scaffold 10 feet or higher and on narrow scaffolds (less than 45 inches) at a height of four feet or more. Most manufacturers recommend that guard railing be provided on all scaffolds over four feet in height. Employees often complain about having to use guard railing, but it just may save their lives.
Full decking of the work platform is an often overlooked OSHA requirement. There should be walkboards to fully deck each work level to be used on the completed scaffold. As a general rule wood planking should never be used on a rolling tower. Any time planking is used on other types of scaffolding, it should be of scaffold grade, cleared, properly secured, and overlapped to prevent slipping. Planking overhang can cause platform access problems and may require a separate access ladder.
The scaffold lock pin is another important component which is used to secure the frame leg to the stacking pin and casters. If these pins are improperly installed, any type of uplift force can cause the scaffold to disassemble and collapse. One fastener for every connector should be provided.
The horizontal squaring brace should be installed closely to the tower base and then every 20 feet of scaffold height. Each successive brace is to be installed perpendicular to the one below it.
Other important aspects of job-site safety include training the workers to think about job safety before accidents happen. By being prepared, and by aiming for zero accidents on the job site, a contractor can do much to control and reduce claim incidences.
Taking Steps To Reduce Claim Incidence
Employers can take steps to limit their companies' exposure to workplace injuries. A first step is to reduce claim incidence.
Some guidelines are:
1. Train at least one person in basic first aid. This person can administer first aid to minor injuries which then do not require reporting.
2. Review safety awareness programs. Make certain that obvious hazards are corrected and eliminate injury-causing conditions.
3. Have a supervisor validate injury reports. Employee injury should be more than a routine clerical event. It's true that the insurance company pays for treatment, but your company pays the insurance company.
4. Question and evaluate the Monday morning muscle pull. Some employees carry a weekend or off-work injury to the workplace. Employees need to know that your company is sensitive to this type of injury. Let them have time off to see their family doctor and place a note in their personnel file in the case of further problems.
5. Campaign for safety. Have safety meetings, and make everyone aware of the importance of safety. By raising safety consciousness, your employees will work with a safety attitude.
Guidelines To Help Avoid OSHA Citations
Any construction firm can take concerted measures to help avoid OSHA citations and penalties on the job site. Some ways companies can establish a top job site record when it comes to OSHA inspections, the following tips can help make an OSHA inspection go more smoothly.
1. Appoint someone to be the safety officer who can go to the job site if an OSHA inspector arrives. Inform the project superintendent and your supervisor to call your office and delay the inspector until your safety officer can arrive. If the inspector refuses to wait, and you want to postpone the inspection at the time the inspector arrives, you can require that he obtains a subpoena which will delay the inspection.
2. Don't admit to any violations and don't sign anything without a disclaimer. The inspector will make a note of any admission by a company employee and issue a citation. Often company representatives incorrectly admit violations when a violation does not exist.
3. Be sure there are OSHA posters on each project site where the employees can see them.
4. Don't allow employees on or around other trades' equipment, scaffolding, ladders, work areas, etc., unless you are certain the equipment meets OSHA requirements. If one of your employees was exposed, or could be exposed to a hazard caused by another contractor, you may be cited and fined.
5. Have a written hazardous materials communication program on the job site for your company with all material safety data sheets (MSDSs). You should train employees regarding the Haz-Com Program and have the employee sign training certifications. If your employee is exposed to other trades' materials, they should also be exposed to the MSDSs for those materials as well.
6. Have a written safety program whether it is required or not, and enforce it. (Violation of your own safety program will be a citation under the general duty clause).
7. Provide a written training programs for forklifts, hoists, and other operators of heavy equipment.
8. Do not threaten the OSHA inspector. He is doing his job to promote workplace safety.
9. Do allow the inspector to talk to your employees. However, if the employee requests that you attend the conference, then you may attend. If the employee does not request that you attend, then do not force that issue. The employee has the right to meet privately with the inspector.
10. Do not penalize, threaten, or censure, or fire an employee for anything he says to an OSHA inspector. There are criminal fines and jailtime involved with such violations.
11. Strongly enforce your safety program. Issue warnings. Layoff for a short time and/or fire persons for violating safety programs. Isolated employee misconduct is your best defense for citations. You will not be able to use that defense unless your company can show that: it has an effective written safety program; it provides training; it enforces its safety program; and it takes punitive action of those who violate the safety program.
12. Keep a current OSHA 200 Form on the job site, executed as required. Post the form during February as required, even if there are no injuries.
13. Provide training and require employees to sign training certificates on all job related tools, equipment and devices, including even such things as respirators, dust masks and fire extinguishers.
User Comments:
No comments added
Add your comment
Fill out the fields below:
|
