Fall Protection: Simple, yet Costly if Overlooked

Construction Related Safety programs are simple to deliver, and one of the most cost effective ways to reduce or minimize dangerous and expensive safety issues on a job site. Construction Safety typically includes training and certification in the following areas:

• Excavation Safety Competent Person
• Scaffolding
• Fall Protection
• Confined Space: Authorized Entrant
• Confined Space: Attendant
• Confined Space: Entry Supervisor
• Confined Space: Rescue

August 8, 2014 Cal-OSHA Reporter
Scaffold Contractor Pays More than Proposed Fines in Fall Protection Incidents
Brand Scaffold Services has agreed to pay $77,000, or more than the originally proposed $75,690 in penalties in a 2012 case in which one of its workers was seriously injured inside a reactor vessel at the Chevron El Segundo refinery.

Chevron previously settled its case with Cal/OSHA, agreeing to pay $30,000 of a proposed $51,185. The worker was severely injured when he fell from a wire chain inside the vessel. DOSH cited Brand for eight serious, and three general violations. The most serious charge was under Petroleum Safety Orders §6799.1 for failing to ensure workers using chain or wire-rope access were wearing safety harnesses attached to a rescue retrieval system. It came with a $22,500 proposed penalty.

Under the settlement, this serious violation was preserved but the penalty was reduced. Another serious violation, under General Industry Safety Orders §5157(c)(5)(B) for failing to provide protection from falling objects, had its original penalty reduced from $8,435 to $7,000.

Fall Through a Skylight
A production manager’s Nov. 18 death after falling through a skylight happened because his employer did not provide any fall protection on the roof in question, DOSH alleges in citing An-Wil, Inc., of Riverside, after its investigation into the incident. 

Milton Polo Patino, 45, an operations/production manager, who had worked for 10 years at the facility, had climbed to the roof of the plant, 27 feet above a warehouse, to ensure the air system was functioning properly.

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