Good news: An increasing number of employers are outfitting at-height workers with fall protection equipment and providing the training to use it correctly.

While it may not appear dangerous at first glance, a confined space entry can be one of the most hazardous workplace situations. 

At last year’s National Safety Council Congress and Expo, OSHA presenters noted that fall protection was the agency’s second-most cited violation category. That’s no surprise — fall protection consistently ranks among OSHA’s highest number of inspections and total fines.

Did you know OSHA estimates that more than 200,000 general industry establishments in the U.S. — employing around 12 million people — have confined spaces? Among those sites, approximately 1.6 million people enter confined spaces every year.

During an emergency, the effective use of equipment can mean the difference between injury and safety, or even between life and death.

An effective fall protection training program is easy to identify if you know what to look for. Here are five best practices for comprehensive training.

Whenever a fall arrest system has been identified as the appropriate control method for a fall hazard, a rescue plan must be in place.

Your instructor should come up with specific learning objectives (six are provided here) for your course and create a customized lesson plan that focuses on your needs.

In my years of training, here are three of the most common oversights that I’ve seen related to fall protection in the confined space sector.

We don’t learn to drive by only reading manuals and watching videos. We learn, and become good at it, by practicing. The same is true for fall protection training — in addition to classroom time, there needs to be hands-on education.