As rooftop solar installations grow, so grows the need to access the roof safely.

Part of roof top safety is having a proper rooftop railing installed. On a metal roof there are other safety concerns. The metal ribs can cause a significant trip hazard. Additionally, the metal roof may not be...

If your company requires employees to work above 4’ in general industry and above 6’ in construction, it is important that you have a policy in place for working at heights.  While 4’ and 6’ might not seem all that high, people have died or suffered serious injuries when falling from these...

Mezzanines in the workplace pose a great risk to employees. Though they are useful and often necessary for storage, the creation of additional fall hazards must not be overlooked. If you ever need to access an elevated platform, and that platform is more than 48" high, that perimeter must be...

We spend a good deal of time discussing equipment in this blog, from fall protection to work platforms to scaffolding and lifts. Notice, however, the title of this blog post - specifically the word “habits”. In the end, it’s often our behavior at work that contributes to incidents,...

Regardless of how much effort OSHA, the EHS industry and employers put into fall prevention, falls continue to occur. In a perfect world, all efforts to prevent falls would be 100% successful, but it’s not a perfect world. Failure to take measures to reduce the impact of an...

The installation of horizontal lifelines requires professionals who understand both the surface they are mounting to and the components of the lifeline system. Many of the other safety systems that we sell can be installed by the end user, but a horizontal lifeline is different. In order to...

I’ve been in many warehouses.  Many, many warehouses.  The difference in safety culture from one to the next is as varied as the products they store.  Some are in pristine, new buildings with clear lines painted on the floor, have only safe, certified forklift operators driving the...

The following safety huddle topic is an overview of OSHA personal protective equipment for the construction industry. All information has been extracted from OSHA 29 CFR Part 1926, Subpart E. This information is for informational purposes only. Employers should always create a written policy...

No one would want to get on an airplane and hear: "Well folks, we got about half way through the safety inspection and decided that was good enough. Now sit back and enjoy the flight." You need to provide total protection for the sake of the person who is working at heights. Industrial safety...

Fall protection rules can seem complicated because every situation is different.

Organizations like Habitat for Humanity use volunteer labor for residential roofing projects. The use of volunteer labor can be quite a dilema when it comes to keeping everyone on the worksite safe from injury. One of the most dangerous areas of a volunteer work site is a roof. An innovation...

When employees are exposed to heights over 6 feet above lower levels, they shall be protected from falling by guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems. The following Heroic Safety Huddle defines the details and specific regulations pertaining to these protection...

Go to You Tube, search any topic, and you’re bound to come up with videos showing what you’re looking for.  Fall protection situations are no exception.  With a little searching, you can find videos showing good examples of fall protection, bad examples of fall protection, complete lack of...

Roof washing is probably never on anybody’s top-5 list of ways to spend an afternoon, but it certainly can become a necessary evil.  If it were just a matter of aesthetics, you could almost write it off as vanity and leave your roof to become whatever filthy mess it was destined to...

This is an attitude most workers seem to have. And why not? No one goes to work, thinking, "I am going to get hurt today." Although it seems somewhat pessimistic, workers should be thinking "I could get hurt today, so I will take every precaution to prevent it."

My husband,...

People tend to interpret regulations and laws in whatever way suits them best.  Speed limits, for instance, are treated as a bare minimum while safety regulations are treated like a goal to attain – a maximum level of performance.  In both cases, the opposite is actually true.  Speed...

Personal fall arrest systems seem to get all the attention in discussions revolving around fall protection, but, as discussed in a previous article, harnesses and lanyards should be a last line of defense since they are considered personal protective equipment. Short of...

Ethanol Producer Magazine has a well written article on the importance of fall protection.  The article covers the basics of OSHA as well as some great tips on what to look for to make your environment safer.  The article concludes with a list of fall protection solutions that help to...

Changes in the legislation in states like California have made dependence upon solar energy, not only more appealing, but a requirement.  California is specifically pushing hard for rooftop solar installations.  Rooftop solar installations mean exposure to fall hazards.  Fall hazards...

Inspecting your harness is critical to ensuring that you are safe while working at heights. Tomcat, a staging lighting and support system company, has released a video that covers four basic inspection steps to go over before wearing your harness.

"It was just a freak accident."

"There was no way we could have seen that coming!

If you haven’t heard something like this, spend a little time doing incident investigation in an occupational setting.  Trust me, it won’t take long.  Statements like these perpetuate the belief that accidents...