Aerial safety goes beyond your standard fall protection. In the past, objects-at-heights hazard planning has been an afterthought — or not even a thought. Today, regulators and professionals acknowledge the serious, life-threatening risks of falling objects and are instilling rules to ensure proper precautions are followed in the workplace to ensure a DROPS FREE ZONE™. Safety of tools and equipment at heights involves the organization and securing of these objects, whether in use or not. Hard hats and steel toes help reduce the damage but, in the hierarchy of controls, one should eliminate the hazard altogether if it’s a possibility.
According to the Bureaus of Labor Statistics, in 2011, there were 219 fatalities from being struck by a falling object or equipment in the United States, which accounted for 5 percent of all workplace fatalities. Other negative results of dropped objects include the cost of damaged equipment — whether it is the dropped object itself or an object it impacts below. If a worker drops a $1,200 laser alignment device 60 meters onto the hood of a brand new company F-150… well, Houston, you’ve got an expensive and unnecessary problem on your hands.