Let's Talk Falling Objects and Controlled Access Zones

I have worked in a number of large construction sites over the last few years as well as my experience at Suncor and I can tell you that one of the major challenges we face at these large construction sites is the risk of falling tools. I have had a bucket of LARGE bolts dropped on my head and as such, I can speak to this directly. I was not injured but you can bet I was pissed off! So how easy is it to manage tools? Let's dig into this a bit with honesty.

In the past, all that we had was barricade tape and simple tool lanyards. There is a problem with both of these approaches. Let's talk about barricade tape. How often have you seen a SOLID barricade with a good notice tag telling you what the hazard is and who to contact if you need to access the area? I'd guess next to never. So what do folks do? They look around, if your lucky, and walk right through the area. Another issue involves language barriers. I had a situation where workers from another country who managed to make it through our testing process did not understand the trifoil symbol for radiation. The workers walked right through the barricade and were standing in the direct line of fire for a gamma radiation x-ray. I had another incident where a worker fell 35'. The area had barricade tape EVERYWHERE. The workers said that since they never took the tape down or labeled it, they eventually ignored it. The moral of the story is barricade tape is only effective it people respect it.

Now let's talk about tool protection. Are you over-stacking on your scaffolds or landings? If so, you need to protect personnel with netting or fencing. I don't see that in the real world these days but I will say that my former employer was religious about this per my fight! It didn't happen always and didn't happen (to be honest) when I first got there. I learned through incidents that we needed more protection. Then, I started looking into tool control. I don't necessarily endorse Capital Safety, but they did purchase Python who was the industry leader in falling object protection and I feel pretty comfortable in that I have seen their products. I know there may be other manufacturers out there but to be honest, I have not used your products so I can't endorse them. I will do so if you contact me. Let's talk about the bag in the photo. It has 2 locking mechanisms. One is for easy access and one is for when you want to humiliate the strongest guy in the room asking him to open it. He/She won't be able to. You have to know how to open it. The point it, when you use this bucket (which is reasonably priced compared to standard leather bags) it won't drop tools on people's heads! There are a variety of options available for tools and I have yet to see them employed. I wish I could say I see other mechanisms in use, even the generic versions from 10 years ago, but I don't. People are at risk. Tools dropped hurt!

My point with this post is not to get you to buy Capital Safety products but I can assure you that if you let them give you a demo, you would have a hard time saying there isn't value to worker safety in their products. I can say this because I was 3 feet from being hit by a dropped circular saw. No big deal, right? The Supervisor didn't think so by my client's 2 safety pros I was talking to at the time had a different stance. How likely are they to want to perform future projects with your company when your supervisors demonstrate such a blase attitude towards a potential fatal accident? I can tell you..not very. If you are a sub doing this kind of overhead work, you need to iron this down and get some standards in your company. If you don't know how to do this, contact me and I will help you. It's not about me making money. It's about helping you advance your company safety culture and winning more bids. If you have a solid tool management program, I can bet that your hiring clients will respect that and consider that in the bid consideration process.