Oil and gas extraction and drilling platform sites present some of the most challenging work conditions found around the world. Because fall risks abound, DFP maintains a high profile, mitigating risk providing fall protection in the oil and gas industry.
Fall clearance, deflection, Rigid Rail vs. Horizontal Lifeline… all important things to be discussed when considering a fall protection system. This second episode of our “All Things Fall Protection” podcast takes a deeper dive into how to create the best safety plan to keep your team safe on the job. Our hosts this week, Matt Pittner and Toby Rosenthal, chat about how to decide which fall protection systems are best for your facility.
Fall protection education has been a core company value here since our founding in 1994. Most of our clients appreciate the need for fall protection, but they don’t always understand the different approaches to fall protection or why we recommend one system style over another.
For example, many folks automatically equate fall arrest with cable-style horizontal lifelines, but limited fall clearance applications are better suited for rigid beam rail systems because they minimize deflection. It’s one thing to hear a fall safety specialist make these types of statements, but quite another to visualize the differences between the two approaches.
Fall protection for railcar loading and unloading applications is more complicated than meets the eye. You won’t see workers toiling away at impressive heights since most railcars are around 15 feet high. And to the untrained eye, rail yards and rail sidings appear less crowded than the manufacturing areas inside industrial facilities. That said, fall protection is an absolute necessity for personnel accessing the top surfaces of railcars and tankers.
Increasing the quantity of goods moving through your organization’s warehousing and distribution centers–and the speed with which these items move through your supply chain–is vital to improving the bottom line. That said, from a safety perspective, ramped up activity in your distribution centers also increases your organization’s exposure to potential losses. If you ask a seasoned warehousing EHS professional for a list of the most costly potential hazards their employees face, chances are good forklift accidents will top the list. The OSHA statistics bear out this claim; warehouses and distribution centers report 100 fork-truck related fatalities and 95,000 lift truck injuries each year. What these same safety professionals tend to overlook is the potential lost time injuries and fatalities associated with fall hazards.
If you have ever waded through the sea of OSHA fall protection regulations, you may have noticed references to a “qualified person.” What does this term mean, and what are the differences between a competent and qualified person? And from a design perspective, is the use of a qualified person enough to enough to ensure the safety of a fall protection system?
