On Thursday, June 5, C&S Companies, in cooperation with the Syracuse Area OSHA Office, halted work on all of the firm’s construction sites to provide fall prevention safety training for workers and managers from C&S, Novelis, Sunoco, VIP Structures, JPW Rigging, Barnhart Crane, and Lovell Risk Management. According to OSHA, in 2012, falls from heights caused 279 construction worker deaths and more than 8,800 serious injuries. A lack of fall protection is the most prevalent OSHA violation.
Local OSHA officials assisted in this important safety event. Ronald Williams, OSHA’s Compliance Assistance Specialist, kicked off the meeting with a presentation on OSHA’s mandatory fall prevention requirements, including statistical information on fall history across the United States and recent history of fall incidents within New York state. Williams walked through the requirements for preventing falls from heights at constructions sites, emphasizing ladder, scaffold, and elevated work platform requirements. He discussed the proper use of fall arrest equipment and fielded a variety of safety questions from the audience.
The training program was further enhanced by a presentation from Eric Quinn, C&S information technology manager, who had worked a number of years as an on-track safety and medical response specialist for NASCAR. Quinn spoke about how setting goals should include elements of establishing safe work practices.
The U.S. Department of Labor requested employers throughout the nation to conduct fall prevention stand down during the week of June 2-6. OSHA estimates that more than one million workers across United States would participated in some form of fall protection training during the week.
To learn more about C&S’s safety consulting services, contact Mike Casler at mcasler@cscos.com or (315) 455-2000.