Falls are the leading cause of fatalities in the construction
industry. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents involving falls
from ladders. The use of portable ladders is a hazard that goes unnoticed in
many of our plants. Why? Mainly because their use is infrequent and for a short
period of time. Regardless, proper usage and placement of portable ladders is a
hidden hazard in many of our plants. Here is a recent story that emphasizes that
need for ladder safety.
An
electrical contractor fell into a sulphuric acid at an aluminium processing
factory in Southeast Asia here one morning during the week of October 18, 2015.
In the 11.20am incident, the 25-year-old man had gone up to the second floor of
the factory to fix a ventilation fan above the tank. A witness said the man had
lost his footing while ascending the ladder, causing him to fall into the tank.
Fortunately, the tank was only filled with two per cent of sulphuric acid at
the time of incident. The chemical is often used in metal smelting. Local Fire
and Rescue Department hazardous materials team (Hazmat) arrived a minute after
a distress call was received. Officials said the man sustained slight acid
burns to his foot. He was also reported to have hurt his back and arm due the
impact of the fall. “The factory’s emergency unit alerted the Fire and Rescue
Department. Our Hazmat team sent him to the local hospital immediately for
treatment,” the department said in a statement.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays that the injured worker
recovers fully from his physical and any mental injuries that resulted from
this incident. The story does not specifically state that the ladder in
question was portable in nature. But, the APSB made the assumption that it was
due the maintenance activity that was being performed.
There is a plethora of portable ladder safety educational material
available for your plant. Occupational Safety & Health Administration
(OSHA) has numerous valuable resources available. Unfortunately, the resources
are spread out through its website. The APSB always recommends utilizing the
search function of government safety organizations websites.
OSHA has information about Falls-Ladder Safety here. As well as
Portable Ladder Safety here. The Health & Safety Executive (H&SE) has
numerous educational documents about working safely on portable ladders. One
such document can be found here.
In addition some plants would rather show a video to their workers
about the portable ladder safety. The video below seems do an adequate job on
explaining the hazards associated with working on a portable ladder. The video
also explains all of the different types of ladders too.
Please Comment.
1 comment:
OMG !!!!! :( Should be more cautious in ladder. Thanks for this post.
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