"nothing could be done to save the man...."

Incidents involving the maintenance of equipment and facilities have been posted on the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog with regularity. That is why when we are asked to speak to plant workers about the importance of safety we request a separate meeting with the maintenance department. There has been a never ending series of fatal incidents involving maintenance workers. We acknowledge that some maintenance workers are employed by outside contractors. Regardless, we hope, we pray that publicizing these incidents that workers will realize that taking shortcuts, making assumptions, failing to follow safety protocols can result in the loss of their life, and/or their coworkers. Here is a recent:

A man has died after falling through a roof at an aluminium company in the United Kingdom during the week of September 13, 2015.

Local ambulance personnel said the victim went into traumatic cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident.

Two air ambulances attended the site after a 999 call made at around 2.25pm, and a hazardous area response team was also called out.

An ambulance service spokesman said: "Crews arrived to find a man who is believed to have fallen through a roof to the ground below.

"Ambulance medics carried out advanced life support but sadly, despite everyone's best efforts, nothing could be done to save the man and he was confirmed dead."

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog offers our sincere condolences to the worker’s family, friends and coworkers. The news media failed to state if the deceased was employed by the aluminium company or an outside contractor. Regardless, fall protection measures either were not utilized or failed.

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has lots of great information regarding fall protection system and requirements. Information can be found here:

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has great information too. It can be found here.

Another useful resource is Youtube. We found this video which explains OSHA’s requirements. Please note that many if not all of the videos are marketing videos of a product or service. Which is fine, the APSB feels that some of these videos are excellent and can be very useful to your plant. Here is one that we liked.

Please comment.