Articles Tagged with ''fall hazards''

Hagel Metal Fabrication Inc., has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 12 safety and health violations after a 23-year-old worker was fatally crushed Feb. 22 by an automated laser-cutting machine.

A complaint that workers were not evacuated during a natural gas leak brought OSHA to Badger Metal Finishing Inc.’s St. Francis metal finishing facility, where the agency found 17 safety violations. Proposed penalties total $46,200.

Republic Steel is facing $1,138,500 in fines for for 24 safety violations at its Canton manufacturing plant – fifteen them willful violations of OSHA’s fall protection standards.

OSHA has partnered with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) - Construction Sector on this nationwide outreach campaign to raise awareness among workers and employers about common fall hazards in construction, and how falls from ladders, scaffolds and roofs can be prevented and lives can be saved. Here's how:

The average person’s reaction time is half a second. In that time you fall 4 feet. As you fall, gravity pulls you down and your speed quickly increases. That means your impact force increases too. And, once you start falling, you will stop only when you hit a lower surface. Still think you can catch yourself?