FALL PROTECTION

Construction industry favours flexibility in safety

-- Heather Prime

May 1, 1997 marked the one-year anniversary of the new Fall Protection Regulations. A major accomplishment spearheaded by the construction industry, the new regulations require fall protection where workers may fall three metres (10 feet) or more, or where a fall from a lesser height involves an unusual risk of injury. Falls from heights are the number one safety risk to construction workers. From 1992 to 1996, the construction industry experienced 14 fatal falls, accounting for 35 percent of all fall-related deaths during that period in B.C. Fatal falls in construction have decreased from seven in 1992 to one in 1996. Manny Gomes, WCB Prevention manager, attributes this decline partly to the new regulations' origins. "Because the process for developing the regulations was driven by industry and its recognition that changes were required," he explains, "construction representatives shared their ideas with others long before the regulations took effect. Firms were working to draft standards as early as 1993." The WCB has also been working to teach others about the new regulations and how to apply them. WCB safety officer Ken Boucher estimates he gave 100 fall protection presentations in the last year to pulp mills and sawmills, refineries, construction sites, and utility companies. "The regulations provide the fundamentals for numerous kinds of fall protection. Depending on your situation, you may need to know only one kind of system, or you may need to know more," says Boucher. Laurie Newton, a construction safety officer with Swagger Construction, prefers the flexibility that comes with performance-based regulations. "The regulations spell out information that needs to be well defined for safety, but they've also left latitude. In the construction industry, you run into so many problems that are unique to each job, and sometimes they just don't fit with any solution, so you have to be creative," she says. Swagger Construction's creative solution for protecting workers building the Forest Sciences Centre at UBC is Safe-T-Strap. "We considered using cast-in anchors with eye bolts rated for fall arrest, but whether installed in the underside of slabs or in columns, this wasn't a workable solution and could even put our workers at risk." Further discussions led Swagger to decide on Safe-T-Strap, a relatively new fall-arrest system. Custom-designed Safe-T-Straps were cast into the underside of concrete slabs. As each floor was stripped, the straps dropped down, ready for workers to attach to their harnesses. The devices were installed starting seven feet from the edge of each floor and spaced at 15-foot intervals. "Any of the trades that have come onto the site are really happy with the Safe-T-Straps," says Newton. "They're accessible, allow total freedom of movement, and you don't have to rig up horizontal or vertical lifelines." The new regulations also include provisions for control zones and a safety monitor system when standard fall protection methods are not practicable. In certain circumstances, employers are required to write worksite-specific fall protection plans detailing these measures. "Now, without me asking them, contractors offer me their written safe work plan before they come on site," Newton notes. Since the regulations took effect, she says the industry's understanding of -- and appreciation for -- the new, more flexible standards have taken hold.