What Do Fall Protection, Crutches and a Broken Leg Have in Common – 5/20/24

Safety E-Quick Tips

OWYN Safety Management Platform

What Do Fall Protection, Crutches and a Broken Leg Have in Common

You may think you have a good idea of where this E-Quick Tip is going, but this one has a little twist.

Years ago, I was doing some safety training for a roofers’ union.

The program was mandatory and was put on by the union during the winter to help ensure their members were up to date on current OSHA safety requirements for the upcoming year.  The course was about 8 hours long with lunch, and we covered safety topics specifically for roofers.

Although there were several safety topics discussed, the one that sparked the most and deepest conversations was fall protection.

I had done this program with this union before, so I was well prepared for a lot of push back regarding fall protection, but today would be a little different.

All these roofers had been through this training for years, so they were ready to voice their opinions.

To keep the training more interesting, I always told those being trained to ask questions and voice their opinions throughout the training rather than wait until the end, and several members had already given their thoughts on the requirements. Some objected to the need for fall protection, others stated that people just need to use common sense, while others pointed out that fall protection requirements created other hazards that made it difficult for them to get their work done.

I was ready for all of these.

Then one member went off on a rant naming every reason possible for why fall protection was not necessary. He went on and on for what felt like forever. When I tried to answer one of his concerns, he immediately made it clear that I was interrupting him, and I could talk when he was done.

So, I waited and listened.

And when he finally ran out of gas, I proceeded to respond to each of his concerns. When discussing each I stayed away from just talking about the value of fall protection. I discussed different situations where employees of some of our clients had been injured from fall incidents.

That took about another 15- 20 minutes because with each incident I discussed, he provided a reason how each incident could have been avoided without fall protection.

“This one could have prevented the hazard by just using a little common sense.” “This one should have been paying closer attention to their surroundings.” “That guy could have done it a different way.” And it went on.

My response each time being, “but with proper fall protection in place, those incidents could have been prevented even if the individual was not using common sense or paying closer attention to their surroundings.”

He even had a response to 2 incidents I discussed that led to fatalities.

After all this someone else decided to say something.  So, I braced myself, but I couldn’t believe what I was about to hear.

“Hey Joe, why don’t you tell him why you are on crutches and may not be able to work until later this year?”

And the laughter broke out.

Then it came out that he had fallen off a 20’ high building’s flat roof, broken his leg in multiple locations and had a rod holding it together – and there was no fall protection in place at the time.

I didn’t see that one coming, but my final remark was simple, “Proper fall protection would have prevented that.”

Then someone announced that lunch had arrived.

Most people learn from their mistakes. I’m not sure this guy ever did, but I do believe some of those roofers felt a little different about fall protection that day.  I hope you do, too.

Employee QuickTip

When it comes to workplace safety you may not get a second chance, so please don’t be like that guy. Learn from your mistakes.

Employer/Management QuickTip

You can listen to others when they say common sense will keep everyone at work safe, but always go with the facts – workplace safety and compliance saves and protects lives.

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Thanks for Reading and Please – “Stay Safe this Week”.