<![CDATA[<P>62The Military Engineer l November-December l 2009
ing them. In some cases, organizations
are forced into a certain fall hazard so-
lution just because the equipment has
already been purchased for the purpose
of controlling hazards. Rather than
thoroughly evaluating the hazard and
the abatement options, the least effec-
tive option has already been applied
without reviewing other methods.
Another unfortunate reality when
simply purchasing equipment is a
false sense of security. If fall protec-
tion equipment is not the most effec-
tive solution, anchorages are not de-
signed properly, or workers do not use
the equipment correctly, safety hazards
can actually be increased. When work-
ers think they are protected but are not,
they can be less diligent about safety
than if they were not protected at all.
Some common issues that leave work-
ers unprotected while using equipment
include improper ?tting of harnesses,
insuf?cient fall clearances, inadequate
anchorage strength and incompatibility
of equipment.
It is tempting to purchase fall protec-
tion equipment in a manner similar to
other personal protective equipment
such as eye or hearing protection. How-
ever, simply wearing a full-body har-
ness and a lanyard does not mean one
is protected. Signi?cantly more train-
ing is necessary for properly using fall
protection equipment than is for more
intuitive safety equipment such as
gloves. Additionally, fall arrest anchor-
age must be designed to withstand fall
loads, minimize swing fall and ensure
adequate fall clearances.
Where to Begin
Working through the identi?cation
and evaluation phases allows organiza-
tions to make better judgments when
selecting hazard control methods. The
identi?cation phase typically involves
a facility- or organization-wide fall haz-
ard assessment. Undergoing this type
of comprehensive assessment provides
a clear picture of all hazards—not just
the obvious ones.
During a fall protection assessment,
a safety professional examines either
designated areas or entire complexes
for the presence of fall hazards. As part
of the survey, details about the hazards
are captured for further evaluation.
In the evaluation phase, organizations
consider factors such as the probability
of falling and the severity of injury to
create a relative ranking of risk among
the hazards identi?ed. Probability con-
siderations may include the number or
workers involved in a task or the fre-
quency with which a task is performed.
On the severity side, factors such as dis-
tance of fall and potential obstructions
during a fall are evaluated. Basing deci-
sions on accurate evaluations can avoid
spending valuable time and money on
solving problems that do little to reduce
the actual risk of injury.
For a large organization or a site with
a signi?cant number of hazards, it is
essential to develop a system for abate-
ment. Otherwise, the fall protection pro-
gram is reactive rather than proactive.
Studies by a leading consumer products
manufacturer have shown that a reac-
tive program can cost as much as 10,000
times more than one in which hazards
are identi?ed and strategically abated
over a period of time.
Case Study: John Glenn Research Center
The safety professionals at the Na-
tional Aeronautics and Space Adminis-
trations (NASA) Glenn Research Center
in Cleveland, Ohio, are actively working
through the identify-evaluate-control
process to improve safety for the cen-
ters workers at heights.
In 2007, LJB provided competent per-
son training for selected staff working
at Glenn Research Center. The success
of that initial training led the center to
request that all people at the site who
may need to perform work at heights—
including civil service and contractor
employees—take the competent per-
son course. The training was custom-
ized to the site, using more than 25 spe-
ci?c fall hazards the trainers identi?ed
throughout the complex as examples.
Evaluating authentic hazards based
on the participants actual work tasks
made the training course more relevant
and allowed the workers to discuss the
hazards in detail during training.
Based on this training course, work-
ers and management better understood
the subject of fall protection and their
sites particular hazards. Knowing that
almost 30 hazards were easily identi-
?ed and talked through during training
made NASA employees recognize that
they were facing signi?cantly more haz-
ards than they once realized.
With a greater appreciation for fall
hazards, Manuel Dominguez, Glenn
Research Centers Chief of Safety, Health
and Environmental Division, deter-
mined that the organization needed to
understand the magnitude of the site-
wide hazards. Before moving forward
with a program to abate fall hazards, he
wanted to better understand the rela-
tive risk presented by the hazards.
To identify every fall hazard at the
site, Glenn Research Center contracted
with LJB to complete a thorough fall
hazard assessment. The team surveyed
more than 100 structures at the center,
identifying hazards inside all facilities,
on roofs and on outdoor equipment
such as process piping that runs be-
tween buildings and on roofs. The as-
sessment revealed nearly 2,500 hazards
at the 350-acre site. These hazards were
catalogued into a report and evaluated
using a proprietary algorithm based on
probability and severity to determine a
relative risk or priority.
The spreadsheet of hazards allows
Glenn Research Centers safety group to
sort the data in a variety of ways: by lo-
cation, priority, hazard type and more.
In fact, at the project kick-off meeting,
NASA personnel speci?cally requested
that hazards be itemized by mainte-
nance type—standard facility mainte-
nance, process maintenance and insti-
tutional maintenance—so they could
sort the data by the group responsible
for abatement.
It is critical to work through the iden-
tify-evaluate-control process and estab-
lish a method and priorities for creating
a manageable and sustainable program.
Doing so translates into a consistently
safe environment for workers.
Craig Galecka, P.E., is Project Manager and
Kimberly Messer, M.SAME, is Sales & Market-
ing Coordinator, LJB Inc. They can be reached
at 517-349-9280, or cgalecka@ljbinc.com,
and 937-259-5020, or kmesser@ljbinc.com</p>
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