Protection From Sudden Stop Syndrome

People say it’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end. The first defense against that sudden stop is preventing the fall. If you do fall, fall arrest systems can shorten that fall so that even a minor injury is unlikely.

Data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows that 57% of ladder-related deaths occur in the construction industry. Additional deaths from ladders occur in other commercial and industrial settings, such as maintenance. Add in deaths from falling off scaffolding, aerial lifts, and other elevated platforms, and you’ll see that a serious problem exists.

Strategic thinking

The CDC says these are the major causes of ladder-related deaths:

1. Worker inexperience or lack of training.
2. Improper ladder selection.
3. Improper use of a ladder.
4. Ladder overloading.
5. Ladder not set up on a flat, level surface or at a proper angle.
6. Not extending the ladder above the roofline.
7.  Lack of safe access.

To help eliminate these dangers, the CDC recommends:

1. Obtain training on how to properly use ladders.
2. Choose the right ladder for the job.
3. Inspect ladders regularly, and ensure they are in good working order.
4. Use ladders on flat and level ground.
5. Secure and position the ladder in the safest location possible.
6. Extend the side rails of the ladder 3 ft above the roof edge.
7. Face the ladder at all times when climbing.
8. Maintain three points of contact with the ladder at all times.
9. Don’t overload a ladder.
10. Use the NIOSH Ladder Safety app to set the proper ladder angle.

When you are about to climb a ladder to perform a job your boss wants to be completed right away, do you think you will remember those seven causes or those 10 recommendations? Probably not.

What are you to do? Memorize your three favorites, so you can recall them every time? No, that leaves too many vulnerabilities. Furthermore, there are far more causes, solutions, and other details to consider than those two lists provide. You could carry a big checklist with you, but that’s impractical.

You possess three powers with which you can protect yourself:

1. Your attitude toward working at elevation.
2. Your commitment to preparation through learning.
3. Your discipline in applying strategic thinking to the particular application.

Think of attitude as the why, preparation as the how, and strategic thinking as the what.

Attitude

A good attitude is where safety begins. Poor attitude is where safety — and sometimes life — ends.

Many people misunderstand their relationship to safety. They view it as an impediment to working efficiently. They neglect to consider the massive efficiency hit a single death or lost-time injury inflicts. They see safety as an additional burden that takes extra time but produces no results.

When someone can retire after 40 years of working safely, how is that not a result? When work is done methodically and there’s no stoppage due to injury or property damage, how is that not a result?

Working unsafely has results, too. While getting the job done sooner might be a result of working unsafely (and not necessarily is), other consequences may include things such as an arc blast that takes out half the facility.

When properly incorporated into the work process, safety forces a methodical approach to work. A methodical approach is normally more efficient than a “wing it” approach, because it reduces guesswork, bad work, and rework.

Looking at safety from this vantage point, the “downside” that people try to avoid through shortcuts does not exist. In companies where this is recognized by top management, the work quality typically ranges from excellent to superior. This is partly because of the methodical work culture and partly because employees feel valued as people.

Preparation

The following are some ways you can prepare for working at an elevation:

• Increase your foundational knowledge by reading fall-related articles in print and online.
•  Learn the limitations of fall-related equipment. For example, how do you inspect a lanyard? How often should a harness be replaced? How do you stabilize a ladder on gravel?
• If your company does not offer fall-related safety talks, encourage management to implement them or even offer to give one.
• Work on your balance. Loss of balance is a major reason people fall from elevation. You could look for tips online or (better yet) take up an activity that improves balance.

Strategy

Before you can develop an appropriate strategy, you need to identify the risks your strategy will address. To do that, you must perform a risk assessment.

An easy way to get a good handle on risk assessment is to read the Informative Annex F in NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace. It’s only three pages long, and much of the space is taken up by two flow charts and two tables.

Risk assessment consists of three major steps:

1. Identify the hazard. What falling hazards can I find here? For example, could my ladder possibly slip?
2. Analyze the sources of risk. For each hazard, ask yourself why it exists. For example, the ladder does not have the correct feet for the surface I intend to use it on.
3. Evaluate the level of risk. How badly could I be hurt and what is the likelihood of a fall from this hazard?

After assessing the risk, determine how you can control the risk factors. For example, you can:

• Use a ladder that has the correct feet.
• Put the correct feet on this ladder.
• Set the ladder on a non-slip mat.
• Secure the ladder at the top with a rope or cable.
• Secure the ladder from sliding by propping its feet against something that won’t move.
• Erect scaffolding instead of using a ladder.

Risk control strategies for elevation are not always about preventing a fall. In many cases, they are about arresting a fall; that is, safely stopping a fall in progress. In other cases, they are about reducing the level of impact to the surface if a fall cannot be prevented or arrested. If it’s practical to do all three, then do all three, but start with hazard elimination.

Sport climbing is increasingly popular, and you may have watched a video or even done some climbing yourself. Consider these strategies climbers use to avoid that sudden stop at the end:

• Matching the climber’s skill to the climbing route difficulty level to reduce fall likelihood. When you’re working at elevation, your skill at matching the risk control strategy to the hazards you identify is critical.
• Using a harness and rope for tall climbs (called lead climbing or top roping). OSHA requires the use of fall protection any time you are working at 6 ft or more above the next lower stable surface (e.g., the floor). The typical lanyard is 3 ft long, and if you consider it’s essentially attached to the middle of your body, you can understand why this rule starts at 6 ft.
•  Using crash pads and specific falling/landing techniques for short climbs (called boulders). A harness system is usually impractical at elevations below 6 ft. But if you fall from a height below that limit, you still could suffer a serious injury if you land on a hard surface such as a concrete factory floor. The solution is to add cushions in the fall zone and understand the safe way to hit those cushions (don’t use your arms to break your fall, barely “brake” with your feet then roll to dissipate the energy).

OSHA requires fall protection when working over dangerous equipment regardless of distance. Given the limits of fall arrest equipment, this often means the use of a net or other barrier.

Happy landings

Someone who slips at elevation and falls into a net erected specifically for that project has a soft landing and suffers no injury. On that same job, someone who counts on luck and falls without that net might not survive the ensuing sudden stop.

First, try to eliminate the sources of risk, addressing the situations or configurations that could cause you to fall. If risk reduction is the best you can do here, it’s not a failure. A failure is when you stop at this point.

Next, assume you will fall. If it’s a tall fall, how can you stop yourself from a free fall to the bottom? If it’s a short fall, how can you provide a soft landing? If over equipment, how do you avoid impalement or other hazards from such a fall?

Performing death-defying acts at elevation may be fine for professional stunt performers, but it has no place in electrical work. In a contest with gravity, gravity always wins. Do what it takes to stay out of that contest.

Lamendola is an electrical consultant located in Merriam, Kan. He can be reached at [email protected]