Making a Positive
Difference
OSHA
Saves Lives
|
 | On June 10, OSHA compliance officers from the El
Paso District Office helped avert potential tragedy at
two communication towers in the area. Elias Casillas
and Jessica Martinez were dispatched to the site of a
tower under construction by Taylor Communications. Two
employers were exposed to falls of 80 feet due to lack
of proper fall protection. After meeting with the
employer, both workers were voluntarily removed until
a fall protection system was installed. Later that
same day, Casillas and Martinez were dispatched to a
100-foot tower in El Paso undergoing routine service
and maintenance by two federal agency employees. Both
employees had two lanyards apiece, but no fall
protection. The employees were asked by the compliance
officers to descend from the tower until adequate fall
protection could be installed. Mario Solano, Assistant
Area Director for the El Paso office provided
technical assistance on tower safety to the agency and
helped them develop a better safety program for tower
maintenance. (Photos of both incidents are below).
Click on any of the thumbnail images for a
larger view.
| Should one doubt the wisdom of using fall
protection during construction, you might want to ask
one fortunate construction worker from Michigan-based
National Riggers and Erectors. Last September, while
working at the Lambeau Field Renovation project in
Green Bay, Wisconsin, the worker slipped from a steal
beam - six stories above ground. Thanks to his use of
full fall protection, serious injury - or death - was
avoided. He was back at work shortly after his rescue.
Less than two months later, a second worker slipped
from a beam, but also escaped injury because of his
fall protection equipment. Like his predecessor, he
returned to work the same day. OSHA has a Strategic
Partnership agreement with Turner Construction, the
Lambeau Field general contractor, which requires 100
percent use of fall protection above six feet. Strict
adherence to that requirement has saved two lives in
the first year of the project. (Photos of the
incident, taken by Turner Construction Safety Director
Steve Lafkas, are below).
Click on any of the
thumbnail images for a larger view.
| "Get out of that trench," OSHA Inspector Robert
Dickinson ordered a worker in an unshored, unsloped,
unsafe trench by the side of the road near El Paso,
Texas. Good thing El Paso Assistant Area Director
Mario Solano had spotted the trench earlier on
September 13, 2001 and sent Dickinson and Elias
Casillas to check it out. Because 30 seconds after the
employee left the trench, the wall near where he had
been standing collapsed. Heeding the compliance
officer's warning and order to leave the trench kept
the worker from experiencing a serious, perhaps
life-threatening injury.
| While investigating the death of an aerial lift
operator on September 11, 2001, OSHA inspector Rich
LeVinus from the Concord, New Hampshire Area Office
helped prevent another serious injury or fatality. An
aerial lift had rolled off the side of a flat bed
truck, catapulting the operator to the ground,
resulting in his death. A tow truck operator was
preparing to bring the lift upright, and LeVinus
realized that doing so could cause the aerial lift to
shift and possibly swing into the driver's side of the
tow truck. He insisted that the tow truck driver use
the passenger side controls to winch up the aerial
lift, possibly saving the driver's life when the
basket of the aerial lift did indeed strike the
driver's side of the tow truck.
| Workers on a deteriorating floor at a building
undergoing demolition in Chicago in July also
appreciated OSHA's intervention. Following a complaint
about the site, Calumet City's Vince Blakemore visited
and found workers standing on deteriorating flooring,
joists and support beams while demolishing the second
level of the building. He told the owner to get
workers off the rickety second story and find another
method of demolition. The owner responded to
Blakemore's concern and complied with OSHA's request
immediately, moving the workers to the first level in
another section of the building. Thank goodness,
because the very next day the building collapsed-right
where the workers had been.
| Following OSHA standards prevents tragedies every
day. In Houston, on August 8, 2001, two window washers
were suspended from the Baker Hughes building when
their scaffold broke, leaving them dangling high above
the ground. But they were hooked to the proper safety
equipment and so they remained aloft until
firefighters rescued them-a happy ending. Had they not
followed OSHA's required safety procedures and tied
off separately from the scaffold, they would likely
have plunged to the earth with tragic results.
| | | | | |
| | | |
|
|
.gif){kind=spacer}
