Your safety-at-heights program is in place. Your facility is well set up through identification and control of potential hazards and your workers are fully trained in use of their fall arrest PPE. You’ve made admirable efforts to avoid falls from heights altogether, but should one occur. Are you fully prepared for rescue post-fall arrest? An emergency response plan to retrieve a fallen worker is the vital next step in saving that worker from trauma, severe injury and death.
Orthostatic intolerance or suspension trauma due to sustained immobility can occur within a few minutes following a fall arrest, especially if the fallen worker has lost consciousness. Symptoms of this serious health risk include dizziness, weakness, sweating, fainting, and venous pooling (blood accumulation in the veins) that can reduce blood flow to the heart and oxygen to the brain.