Fall protection: facts vs. rules | As I was saying …Bill Good
As a Professional Roofing reader, you know NRCA has been at odds with the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for the past
two years concerning the agency's revised fall-protection rules for
residential roofing. Those rules, published in December 2010,
effectively mandate the use of what OSHA calls "personal
fall-arrest systems"—harnesses and lanyards—except in
limited circumstances.
NRCA has argued, from the
beginning, that limiting safety options doesn't make sense from a
safety point of view, nevermind from a regulatory point of view.
And, we have argued, the use of personal fall-arrest systems
creates its own hazards—most notably tripping—that are
likely to create the potential for even more accidents and
injuries.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently issued its Census of
Fatal Occupational Injuries for 2011. It is troubling and
instructive to note the number of fatal falls involving residential
roofing increased from the prior year. It's troubling because
nearly all falls can be prevented with the right equipment and
training. It's instructive because it indicates OSHA should be
working with the industry to expand the use of effective
fall-protection options, not limit them.
A separate report about OSHA enforcement activities from 2006-10
shows during that time period there was a 15.3 percent increase in
violations, 22.1 percent increase in serious violations and 217.1
percent increase in willful violations. Most citations involving
fatal falls are...
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