ASSE Supports Effort to Prevent Construction Worker Falls

Each year thousands of workers are injured and 225 die from construction-related falls. In order to provide additional tools to prevent worker injuries and fatalities in the construction industry, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) is joining with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to support a new ‘Fall Prevention Campaign’.

The national campaign to raise awareness about how to prevent falls in construction is also supported by state governments, private industries, trade associations, academia and professional and labor organizations. It focuses on providing prevention information and training materials on three major types of falls: from roofs, from ladders, and from scaffolds. More than 10,000 construction workers were injured as a result of falling while working from heights in the United States and another 225 were killed in 2010.

Sokol went on to note that occupational safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professionals work with construction workers and employers on providing the safest workplaces possible as well as with personal protection equipment (PPE) aimed at protecting those workers in their environments, and more. This new effort will provide additional tools.

Some of the risks involve working on sloping roofs, from heights, at the edge of buildings, possible slipping, carrying equipment and more. To help construction workers stay safe, SH&E professionals also utilize ‘consensus standards’ such as Safety Requirements for Self-Retracting Devices for Personal Fall Arrest & Rescue Systems, Scaffolding Safety Requirements, and Emergency Procedures for Construction and Demolition Sites to name a few.

Additionally, ASSE’s largest practice specialty is the Construction Practice Specialty group, found at www.asse.org/practicespecialties/construction. This group, made up of top construction safety professionals with global experience, share best practices, produces a newsletter, meets annually and sponsors construction-related sessions at ASSE’s annual professional development conference in an ongoing effort to stay on the cutting edge of construction safety.