Almost Injured Today

Normally I add a fancy photo to go with my blog but I don't have time today. I was almost seriously injured right at quitting time today at a construction site. I have been working at this site for several days and I have brought up numerous safety incidents with my client related to one of their subs. The first thing I noticed is that they were using standards lanyards in an aerial lift. You can't do this anymore, folks. Look at the OSHA standards. It's very clear you can only use a self-retracting device or fall restraint. This is so, if you bounce out of the bucket, you don't hit the ground. The safety rep for this company wanted to challenge me on this...politely but obviously a challenge. As you can guess, that didn't change until I got my client involved more thoroughly. I'll touch on that later. Unfortunately, my client, who will remain unnamed out of professional courtesy, had an eye injury this morning when one of their masons got a rock chip in his eye while using a chisel to cut a stone. If you are in construction, it happens. The solution was minimize cuts using a chisel and use a saw...but remember your silica standard. They also opted to use faceshields which I thought was completely appropriate and didn't slow the work.

Later in the day, when the project superintendents wanted to talk to some of the workers about the incident, 2 safety reps for my client showed up. I should mention that the company who was using standard lanyard in the aerial lift was shut down 3 days prior for working overhead of the masons on a roof with the edge approximately 30 ft from grade, which I had discussed with their safety professional who assured me they would use tool lanyards at all times. I was frequently in the line of fire had they been working on the roof of this structure but I was focuses on my client and my duties to them and not watching this sub diligently. After the superintendents had their discussions, they left and I was speaking to the 2 safety pros for my client about what I had been seeing around the work area when BOOM. A circular saw hit the ground 3 feet from us. All we heard was, "sorry" from the supervisor, over and over again as he was picking up the saw. Not a minute later both the worker's faceshield and tape measure came sliding down the roof but got caught up. As a third party safety and health consultant, I felt I had done all I could do by notifying my client of prior events and speaking to their safety pro on several occasions about what I had seen (he did not correct these issues).

The moral to the story is in multiple parts. First, just because you are a company with an aggressive safety policy, don't think things slip through the cracks. If you are working a large project, you may need to invest in additional eyes and give them the authority to stop work. I was not given this authority so I make my communications through the channels I was given. Second, from my experience at construction sites, particularly large ones, it is ultra important to have all of your supervisors looking out for safety. They need to KNOW (I emphasize because training once a year isn't enough) what to look for and how to address it. I have spoken to the project manager for my client, one of their safety guys, the safety guy for the sub and the sub's superintendent...nothing changed. 6 foot lanyards still being used 3 days after my initial notification and tools not tied of and areas below work not barricaded. You have to ENSURE action is taken, not just call someone and tell them to 'fix it'. Finally, for you safety pros out there, trust what you DON'T know. Swallow your pride and accept advice and guidance from others. Use it as a growing opportunity. You should know your work but most safety pros don't know or see everything. Knowing what to look for is a skill that many safety people just don't have. They look at the obvious or the thing that is currently on their mind and in doing so, they miss things. It happens folks. Even I miss things and I am anal about compliance. Even OSHA misses things the should have addressed...don't tell them I told you that...LOL My point is, milk people who are telling you something you don't know and if you don't believe what they are telling you, ask them to show you. I would have been more than willing to show the Standard Letters of Interpretation on OSHA'S website had he asked. He didn't. He just walked away.

This incident could have been prevent multiple ways. First, they could have barricaded the area below the work to ensure no one was in the line of fire. Simple, right? Second, they could have used some of the better safety technology out there. I have met with Python and I am sold on their tool bags and tool lanyard options. If you haven't seen it, go to Capital Safety's website and look for Fall Protection for Tools. If you aren't convinced, call Craig Shur with Shur Sales and he will set up a demo for you. I'm backing this company because I have work with Craig for years and I have seen Capital Safety's quality (Python is now owned by Capital Safety). We need to start investing a little more money in the RIGHT tools to prevent these types of incidents from happening.

On a side not and I hope this hits home. I told my wife about this incident in private because I didn't want my kids to hear about it. They are already scared something will happen to me at these sites and I don't want to increase their fear level. Think about you and your family. Think about you and someone else's family. How would you feel if you hurt someone else? We don't always consider these things when we do our pre-task safety plans. In fact, from what I see, there is a serious lack of attention to this process. Where are we working and who is working around us is commonly not even discussed unless it is a schedule issue. It needs to be discussed. Who is working around ME and who am I working around? How can my work affect others? I know it's blow and go but if you're going to make the effort to fill out a pre-task safety card, at least ask some open questions in the process and don't just jot down or accept jotting down the same thing everyday. Do we have exposed nails? Did I check my GFCI? Do I any issues with flexible cords?

Supervisors, I have written (I think) about how to conduct an effective safety meeting in the field. I have yet to see anyone other than System's Plumbing (shameless plug because I did training on this very topic for the first time and it made a difference). I won't go into details right now about that. You can read my other posts or contact me for more information. I'm going to end this because I could go all night. I'm angry I was almost seriously injured. It scared me. I know it would scare my kids. I don't want to have my kids visit me in the ER. I have witnessed children seeing their father in the ER and trust me, it is something you NEVER want to witness if you want to sleep for the next month. If you have questions, feel free to message. Also, please comment. I get a lot of thumbs but I would love to see some discussion happening. Let's share our knowledge and experience.