4 Weird Workplace Fall Protection Mistakes that You’re Making

When you’re working at heights, you have to stay safe. If you don’t have good safety practices and a good fall protection system, you’re tempting fate.

Most of the biggest safety mistakes are 100% avoidable! So check out our list and make sure you aren’t making any of these weird mistakes!

1. Not Inspecting Gear

If you don’t want to fall, you have to inspect your gear. Every. Single. Time.

Harnesses, carabiners, and lanyards all get wear and tear damage every time you use them, and no piece of equipment lasts forever. Things fray, break, stretch, and burn. You have to keep an eye on your gear. Even if it was fine yesterday, that doesn’t mean it’s fine today!

2. Improper Use of Fall Protection Systems

You can have the best safety equipment on the market, but if you don’t use it right, it won’t protect you. All employees need to be adequately trained on how to properly wear and use the equipment. They may not be the most fashionable, but they’ll save your life if you wear them right! 

There are three main parts to a Fall Protection System and all three need to be used correctly in order for it to function as desired.

• Anchorage Connector – What you are connecting the FPS to. Make sure it can support up to 5,000 lbs and it should be overhead whenever possible to ensure no injuries from a “swing-fall.”
• Body Wear – How the harness is worn. Many people wear it too lose.
• Connecting Device – The lanyard, lifeline, or fall-limiter that attaches your harness to your anchorage. These all have different applications for different situations, and using the wrong one for the wrong job can cause the entire system to fail.

Here’s an article that goes over these in a little more detail: (read more now).

3. Failure to Have a Climb Plan

If you wait until you are falling through the air to think about fall safety, you’ve waited too long. You need to take preventative measures to ensure that your climbs are safe. Before even starting the job, make sure that everyone is on the same page about the plan.

Identify where serious injury can occur and take the proper precautions. If you’re unsure, it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’s better to be over-geared and safe than under-geared and end up in the hospital.

4. Ignoring the Rules

Your mom always told you not to play in the street. She wasn’t trying to be mean or keep you from having fun; she was trying to keep you safe. In the same way, workplace rules and regulations have employee safety in mind. 

When on a tight deadline, it can be tempting to ignore some rules in an effort to speed things up. Rushing past safety regulations is a good way to put someone in the hospital, or worse. It doesn’t matter how urgent the job is, if you can’t do it safely, then you just can’t do it.

No contract is worth the life of an employee!

Stay Safe! 

Have good fall protection systems, inspect them, stick to the plan, and follow the rules! Follow those 4 steps and you’ll stay safe and avoid bad worksite falling accidents. 

So stay safe out there, and stay weird! Speaking of weird… 

You know you want to read this article about the weirdest things people have found hidden in their homes!

Weirdomatic is the place where all weird things come to life through the amazing world of photographs – a corner of our wild imagination or the whimsical face of the reality?