“Fall Protection Month” Nets Results
Builders Insurance and Risk Services-Nevada Focused Their
Worker Safety Training on Fall Prevention and Ladder Safety

A remarkable 88 percent of all construction industry on-the-job fatalities in Southern Nevada in 2007 have been fall-related. Nationally, falls rank second as a cause for workplace fatalities, but in Southern Nevada, it is clearly number-one. 

In an effort to stem a rising tide of workplace injuries resulting from preventable falls, workers’ comp provider Builders Insurance named October as Fall Protection and Ladder Safety month, and developed special worksite education programs aimed at reducing falls among BIC’s construction company clients. 

Injuries resulting from falls of all types can be devastating to both employers and to employees and their families, in terms of both lost production and cost – but most of all because of the resulting pain and suffering workers endure as a result of trauma sustained from a fall. 

Ron Landram, Vice President of Operations for Builders Insurance Company’s administrator, said that 88 percent of the 23 on-the-job construction industry fatalities in 2007 were related to falls – and that all of them were preventable.

“Falls are the second largest cause of injuries in the workplace nationally,” Landram explained.  “Falls are also the single leading cause of on-the-job construction fatalities.  Unlike the impact of other more common workplace accidents, injuries resulting from a fall usually range from severe to critical and often are accompanied with the unpleasant prospect of a long term recovery – or even permanent disability.  These statistics are particularly frustrating because fall-related accidents are always preventable – and they are always costly”. 

Landram pointed out that encouraging construction workers to simply follow basic common sense methods of fall protection and ladder safety can make a life-saving difference.  “These include following safety guidelines such as using safety lanyards and harnesses,” Landram said, “making sure that guard rails are in place, and inspecting ladders for damage, then taking them out of service when defects are discovered, can reduce or eliminate employee fall injuries completely.”

According to Landram, across-the-board employer workers’ comp insurance costs can also be lowered dramatically if Nevada’s construction companies can get a handle on these unnecessary fall injuries.  To help promote worksite fall-related safety, the insurance company’s safety team visited as many work sites as possible during October with a special focus on fall hazards and ladders. 

Beyond that, Builders Insurance offered, and continues to offer, extra classes in Fall Protection and Ladder Safety.  These classes are geared towards giving supervisors and foremen the hazard recognition tools they need to actively participate in their companies’ on-the-job accident reduction effort.

Landram noted that Builders is offering incentives to its members to practice good fall-prevention safety.  “During October,” Landram explained, “any Builder’s Insurance policyholder who practiced good on-the-job fall protection methods will be nominated for the prestigious BIC Safety award, which is one more way that we at Builders Insurance are working hard to motivate best-practice safety initiatives on Nevada’s construction worksites.”

Builders Insurance sees this fall protection effort as one more example of a solid three-pronged approach to control clients’ accident rates. 

“We’ve built our business around three key elements, each aimed at lowering workers’ comp costs,” according to Tom Wheeler, Vice President of Builders Insurance Company.  “First, we provide the best and most comprehensive worksite safety program in the industry, helping to ensure that workers – including Spanish-speaking workers –improve their safety records.  Next, we have an aggressive program to help injured workers return to the job far more quickly than is the norm for those covered by other workers’ comp providers.  Finally, we vigorously investigate and – when appropriate – prosecute workers’ comp fraud cases.

“These three approaches,” Wheeler said, “especially when combined into a single, unified safety program, serve to help Builders to provide the most effective and worker-sensitive workers comp program available in Nevada today.”

Examples of workplace fall-and-ladder-injury prevention techniques:

Fall Protection Safety Guidelines           

• Identify all potential tripping and fall hazards before work starts
• Look for fall hazards such as unprotected floor openings/edges, shafts, skylights, stairwells, and roof openings/edges
• Inspect fall protection equipment, such as safety harnesses and lanyards, for defects before use
• Select, wear, and use fall protection equipment appropriate for the task
• Use handrails when you go up or down stairs
• Practice good housekeeping – keep cords, welding leads and air hoses out of walkways

       Ladder Safety Guidelines 

• Always inspect ladders before using them.  If the ladder is damaged, remove it from service
• Never stand on the top step of a ladder
• Always maintain 3-point contact (two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand) when climbing ladders.  Always face the ladder while climbing
• Only use ladders only stable and level surfaces, or secure it so it doesn’t become displaced
• Never use a ladder on top of something else (such as boxes, barrels or some other unstable base) to obtain additional height
• Don’t move or shift a ladder while a person or equipment is on it
• An extension or straight ladder must extend at least 3 feet above the point of support.  Do not stand on the three top rungs of a straight, single or extension ladder – yes, that includes the top step (see tip #2)
• Do not use a self-supporting ladder (e.g., step ladder) as a single ladder or in a partially closed position.

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