"was not wearing a safety strap when he tumbled...about 50 feet..."

When the editors of the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog speak to workers about safety we discuss the relationship between personnel protection equipment and comfort. The definition of comfort is “a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint”. It might seem humorous discussing comfort with safety but comfort is one of the main reasons stated for purposely not using personnel protection equipment or not using it as intended. We explain that safety sometimes is uncomfortable, sometimes safety is itchy (clothing), sometimes is hard to hear (ear plugs), etc. But personnel protection equipment is meant to be the last measure to minimize your safety, lack of comfort means little if an incident occurs. Here is a recent story.

A man is hospitalized in critical condition after an accident at automobile manufacturing aluminium casting plant. The company communications manager, said a contractor was working on a crane, at around 9 a.m. one day during the week of January 8, 2017 , when he fell off.

Other employees at the plant told the news media that the man was not wearing a safety strap when he tumbled from a height of about 50 feet.

The company communications manager did not immediately confirmed those details, but said they’re looking what happened.

“The safety and security of everyone in our plants is our highest priority,” the company communications manager added, in a statement. “We are launching a full investigation.”

The local fire chief said the man suffered significant and traumatic injuries. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have launched an investigation that could take weeks to months to complete.

Sometimes before we can post a story, we need to update it. Sadly here is the update:

A contractor working at an automobile manufacturing casting plant in the Midwest USA died in an accident during the week of January 8, 2017, after falling from a wooden catwalk while inspecting a crane. The man fell 30 to 50 feet onto a concrete floor, suffering critical injuries and being rushed to the hospital by EMS, where he was pronounced dead.

According to a brief report from the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the wooden walkway at the plant “collapsed” under the contractor as he was walking toward the crane. The local Fire Department did not respond to news media request for comments the following day.

A statement issued by automobile company said that the automaker is “saddened that a contractor working at our (facility) this morning passed away” as a result of the accident. “We offer our sincerest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. The safety and security of everyone in our plants is our highest priority.”

An OSHA investigation into the accident at the (company facility) has been opened, which “could take weeks or months,” according to OSHA Spokesperson.

After reading this sad story, our introduction may sound uncaring. That was not our point. We offer our sincere condolences to the deceased workers family, friends, and coworkers. We pray that they will remember the deceased by how he lived and not died. We also pray that this worker's death is never ever repeated. 

The news article stated a "wooden walkway..collapsed". Many times "wooden walkways" or simply wooden planks used to reach machinery that are not secure. This is an incident that should bring the spotlight to the practice of using wooden planks versus other methods. 

We do talk about comfort and personnel protection equipment because there are numerous incidents (on this blog) that the worker(s) failed to clip in while working from a height. When we mention that safety is not comfortable and that safety can give you a wedgie. The definition of a wedgie is “an uncomfortable tightening of the underpants between the buttocks, typically produced when someone pulls the underpants up from the back as a prank”. It may sound silly talking about a wedgie, but when you wear a safety harness, many times you get a wedgie. It’s true. We explain to workers when wearing a safety harness that sometimes it takes long to accomplish a task if you consistently have to clip in and clip out to move around the machinery. We then ask the workers if it is a pain to clip in and clip out when moving around at heights. The majority of the attendance agrees that it is a pain. For which we respond, “what’s the alternative?”. Before they can answer we will point to a worker and ask his or her age by decade (e.g., 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, etc.). We will then immediately show a news video of a worker(s) who died from a fall from height who is the same age as the attendee that we asked their age. We find that if the attendees can relate in some way to the injured or deceased worker(s) it reinforces the safety message the plant is currently putting forth.

Please comment.