Research Paper on Construction Falls

Introduction

The United States construction industry has seen some of the most fatal accidents that are mainly caused by falls. Studies between the years 1985 to 1989 indicated that falls accounted for the highest number of accidents within the business, where they were at 33% of all the fatalities. Based on the numbers, there was a need for fall protection measures that would be very suitable towards reducing the occurrence of the same, depending on the nature of construction projects. What was clear was the fact that there was no single method that could be put into use when dealing with the prevention of falls irrespective of the nature of construction (Huang & Hinze, 2003). According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), most of the injuries that occur as a result of falls can be prevented as long as construction companies take into account the various safety measures available to mitigate the risk of falls. Some of the methods as recommended by OSHA include the implementation of engineering controls which can reduce the probability of falls, administrative controls such as training workers on how to avoid falls, and making sensible use of personal protective equipment (PPE) (Huang & Hinze, 2003).

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Causes of Accidents

As previously mentioned, there are various reasons why fall accidents occur, and it is often difficult using one method to prevent these falls. The first one is with regards to the nature of the work that is being carried out. In some cases, there are certain work situations which lead to the occurrence of falls in a more frequent manner. From research, the major activities that easily lead to falls include structure steel erections, roofing, and carpentry on the exterior surfaces. While they are risky operations, human error accounted to most of the falls that occurred in this case (Huang & Hinze, 2003). Errors majorly resulted in people falling from the rooftops or ladders, or even fall from the crumbling of a structure. The second causative factor is related to the location where the falls occur, as there are those places where they are prone while in others they occur less frequently. For instance, the workplace surface and conditions of the layout may be huge contributing factors towards falls. Statistically, falls from roofs were the highest as a result of this considering that they accounted for 63% of all the falls according to data collected from the year 1997 in the construction of commercial buildings and projects that are duplex dwelling. It is in the same locations that the highest number of accidental falls occur considering that these areas account for up to 80% of all accidents (Huang & Hinze, 2003). One of the main ways of alleviating such falls is by making sure that there are appropriate preventive tools within these locations.

The third factor is associated with the errors that humans make that result in falls. This is despite the fact that personal mistakes should not be accepted as excuses for the occurrence of falls. From the data gathered, a third of all falls are from the people making mistakes, especially when they misjudge hazardous events. It is also worth noting that most of these accidents occur from lower elevations, and the reason could be that most individuals while working from these heights are not very keen on having proper PPE for protection against falls. The final factor is in relation to the immediate source, where the focus here is on the working surface (Hadipriono, 2001). The typical accidents include slipping from sloped roofs or falling through openings on the floor. Primarily, these falls occurred from the lack of proper preventive measures within the buildings.

Most of these causative factors are for falls where a person falls from a higher surface and straight to a lower surface. However, there are those which occur when one falls on a staircase, as there is significant data in support of the same. The primary reasons for these falls are divided into two; the user causes and the environmental ones (Cohen, LaRue & Cohen, 2009). User factors are those that are as a result of personal activities and attributes like the gender, age, the direction of movement and the kind of footwear. On the other hand, environmental factors include the nature of lighting around stairways, its location, and the nature of the surface of the staircase. For instance, 80% of most accidents occur when one is descending the stairs, while smoothly surfaced stairways are also risky with regards to falling (Cohen, LaRue & Cohen, 2009).

Corrective Measures of Falling

Accidents from falling during construction can be prevented, especially if the rules and regulations as set by OSHA are followed to the latter. The bottom line of these rules is that in an elevated area of construction, there is a need for protection by securing the edges or creating a perimeter around the working area (Canham-Chervak, Cowan, Pollack, Jackson & Jones, 2015). According to the 29 CFR 1926 rule Subpart M, there is no distance that a person can regard as safe to the extent that there would be no need of having some form of protection. This rule implies that protection is always necessary, as one can never be too safe. In that case, the first thing that needs to be done is to have a barrier constructed using a chain, rope, or wire with a tensile strength of at least 500-lb. Of most importance, barrier tapes should not be used as they can easily snap when something leans on it. Secondly, the perimeter of protection needs to be at least 6 feet away from the edge that is not protected. Thirdly, accessing the area of work needs to be in a way such that it is also protected by two lines in the form of a barrier that is constructed using a rope, chain or wire. It is also crucial to note that there should be no ongoing work between the perimeter barrier and the edge, as chances of falling from that position are high (Epp, 2007).

Using a fall restraint is also a method that has been proven to be effective, despite the fact that the provision of the same does not appear within the 29 CFR 1926 rules. Using restraints is the most effective means of fall elimination considering that one is prevented from falling at any given time. If there are no falls it that means the hazard has been totally dealt with. The restraint is different from the fall positioning in that the latter has some allowance for falling, only that the distance is reduced to 2 feet (Epp, 2007). In general, there are many simple rules that need to be followed if falls are to be prevented in totality. The major concern is in the way people have mythicized these rules to the extent that they feel having experience in the industry implies that one can do without the protection measures in place.

References

Canham-Chervak, M., Cowan, D., Pollack, K., Jackson, R., & Jones, B. (2015). Identification of Fall Prevention Strategies for the Military: A Review of the Literature. Military Medicine, 180(12), 1225-1232. doi: 10.7205/milmed-d-14-00673

Cohen, J., LaRue, C., & Cohen, H. (2009). Stairway Fails An ergonomics analysis of 80 cases. American Society Of Safety Engineers, 27-32.

Epp, R. (2007). Fall Protection Misconceptions & Myths: Working within the OSHA system. American Society Of Safety Engineers, 26-34.

Hadipriono, F. (2001). Forensic Study for Causes of Fall Using Fault Tree Analysis. Journal Of Performance Of Constructed Facilities, 15(3), 96-103. doi: 10.1061/(asce)0887-3828(2001)15:3(96)

Huang, X., & Hinze, J. (2003). Analysis of Construction Worker Fall Accidents. Journal Of Construction Engineering And Management, 129(3), 262-271. doi: 10.1061/(asce)0733-9364(2003)129:3(262)