What Topics Are Covered in a Fall Protection Safety Course?
Working at height is one of the most common causes for death and injury among construction workers each year. Construction sites are hazardous places. Whenever you work at height, you put yourself at risk for bodily injury. That is why you should take the time and money to learn about fall protection safety in a course.
Fall protection safety ensures that everyone goes home healthy at the end of the day. Being able to confidently work at heights can mean the difference between life and death. When dealing with the safety of yourself and your coworkers, you can’t afford trial and error. Take a fall protection safety course to arm yourself with knowledge for working at heights.
What Is Fall Protection Safety?
As stated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) website, fall protection safety must be practiced at job sites where heights are present. OSHA requires employers to provide and utilize additional safety measures to keep workers safe when working at height. Some examples of fall protection safety used at job sites include:
- Guardrails
- Stair railings and handrails
- Safety net systems
- Personal fall arrest systems (harnesses and safety lines)
- Fall protection equipment inspections
These are just a few ways that work sites keep employees safe when working at height. OSHA also provides employers with mandatory duties to follow when working at heights. Some of these duties are:
- Provide workers with working conditions that are free of known, serious hazards
- Maintain clean work area floors, and when possible, keep them dry
- Select and provide personal protective equipment (PPE), including fall protection gear) at no cost to workers
- Train workers on job hazards in a language they can understand
Employers and employees must work together to maintain fall protection safety while on the job. There are many rules employers must follow to help keep workers safe while on the job. But as an employee, you should also stay informed on all safety precautions so that you can help keep yourself safe every day.
Why Is Fall Protection Safety Important?
OSHA’s website showed that 421 out of 1,075 construction-related deaths in 2023 were caused by falls. Working at heights always carries the risk of a fall. Because falling accidents can occur in an instant, you should take all necessary precautions beforehand. Here are some common causes of construction falls:
- Slippery, unstable, or cluttered walkways
- Hole in floor
- Unprotected edge
- Wall opening
- Dangerous or incorrect ladder usage
- Misused fall protection equipment
Safety measures can be easy to forget when you are busy working. Once you are properly trained, you will know about these hazards and can help fix them. Ensuring that your work site is free of fall hazards can keep you and your coworkers safer.
Fall Protection Safety Course Topics
Taking fall protection competent person training can allow you to become a job site safety leader. Safety Counselling’s fall protection safety course will teach you the basics you need to know to work safely at heights. Some topics you will learn about in our fall protection course are:
- Overview of fall protection
- Fall protection equipment, tools and resources
- Identifying and minimizing hazards
- Selecting, maintaining and inspecting equipment
Once you take this training, you will learn all about fall protection. You will learn your job site’s fall protection plan and use the knowledge gained from this course to identify fall hazards. You can then fix these hazards to help keep yourself and your coworkers safe from fall accidents.
Industries That Need Fall Protection Safety Courses
Construction work will usually involve working at heights at some point. Because of this, construction employees should enroll in fall protection safety courses. However, many other industries have jobs that require working at heights. If you didn’t know already, working at heights is common. And when working at heights, there are always increased risks for employees.
OSHA has different standards for each industry that performs tasks such as working at heights. OSHA includes their fall protection safety guidelines for construction and general industries into two categories:
- Construction – Regulation 1926, Subpart M
- General Industry – Regulation 1910, Subpart D
Under these categories, there are tons of jobs and professions that you wouldn’t think work at heights often. However, these jobs work with heights frequently and follow OSHA’s guidelines to ensure worker safety. As mentioned before, construction work requires fall protection safety plans. But shipyards and long-shoring industries also need to follow these safety practices. General industries also need to follow fall protection safety practices when working at heights over 4 feet. This could be for any job where employees work at that height or higher. Any job involving working above hazardous equipment also needs to follow safety guidelines.
Who Should Take Fall Protection Training?
If you work in construction, you should take fall protection training. If you don’t know, OSHA includes many parts of construction in their regulations for fall protection. Any construction worker, supervisor, or manager that performs their job at or near heights should know how to work safely at heights. If you work with any of the following construction aspects, enroll in a fall protection training course.
- Leading-edge work
- Hoist areas
- Formwork
- Rebar
- Walkways
- Excavations
- Roofing activities
- Wall openings
Construction is dangerous when taking shortcuts or when nobody knows what they’re doing. Anyone on the job site that works with these aspects of construction should take a fall protection training course to become a competent person.
Benefits of Fall Protection Safety Programs
Fall protection safety programs allow construction businesses to operate more efficiently and keep your workers. Working at heights is dangerous, and having a fall protection safety net will keep your workers safe. As a construction worker that works at heights, you have the right to know what your job is doing to keep you safe. When you know how to use your safety equipment correctly and identify possible safety hazards, you can prevent life-threatening accidents.
Business owners and customers can benefit from fall protection safety programs as well. Your workers will be able to finish jobs quicker and more efficiently, leaving customers satisfied. More importantly, they will be able to finish jobs safely. Not only will this prevent paying for employee injury leave, medical bills, and possible lawsuits. If OSHA were to fine your job site for not practicing fall protection safety, you could save your company thousands. OSHA can make your job site pay fines and close down work sites that aren’t up to code. By having a fall protection safety program, you can prevent these situations from happening.
Purchase Safety Counselling’s Fall Protection Safety Course In-Person Today
Don’t wait for an accident to happen to you or a coworker to start learning about fall protection safety. Start your fall protection training today to become a competent person on your job site. You can work at heights without fear by taking the right training course. The Fall Protection course to take in the New Mexico is the one offered by Safety Counselling.
Safety Counselling offers hands-on training designed by safety professionals for safety professionals. Contact us today if you have any questions about our safety courses or buy our fall protection safety course if you are ready to begin learning. Fall protection safety can be simple and easy to understand. Purchase our in-person fall protection safety course to see why Safety Counselling has the best safety courses in Albuquerque and all of New Mexico. Give us a call at 505-881-1112 to sign up today!