Injury prevention

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A 55-year-old painting contractor and his 27-year-old son were electrocuted when the aluminum extension ladder they were moving contacted an overhead power line.

The first rule of performing façade work while on a scaffold: Don’t do it unless you’ve completed scaffold safety training, warns a recent worker alert from the New York City Department of Buildings.

Inspections are an important part of any workplace safety and health management system. Described in a video from the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Division of Labor and Industry as the practice of “identifying unsafe conditions through observations and testing of the work environment,” inspections can cover housekeeping, emergency alarms, electrical hazards, machine guarding and chemical hazards.

The National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction is an annual event. But employers should focus on fall prevention all year.

From 1992 to 2005, at least 154 workers were killed after a metal ladder they were using came in contact with an overhead power line, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited in a recent NIOSH review.

Although most states enforce some type of “move over” law, which requires drivers to move over one lane or reduce speed when passing law enforcement on the side of the road, struck-by incidents are still happening.

Guarding floor and wall openings and holes is a requirement under OSHA’s fall protection standard. Hatches, which provide workers with direct access to a rooftop where equipment is often stored, fall under this requirement.

What’s one way workers can cut their risk of a back injury in half? “Store it off the floor,” the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries says.

Aside from being the control center of the vehicle, a truck cab serves as an office for paperwork and phone calls, a break area to rest and eat, a shelter from inclement weather and extreme temperatures, and a storage area for supplies and equipment. As wide-ranging as this multifunctional space is, even more so are the hazards that can be inside and around the cab, cautions KeepTruckingSafe.org.

Contact with electricity is one of the leading causes of fatalities in construction, according to OSHA.