Safety Tidbit #2.26 – Focus Four

Safety Tidbit #2.26 – Focus Four

Sources:           OSHA Construction Focus Four Training

 

Falls, Caught-in or Between, Struck-by, and Electrocution, the four leading killers on Construction Sites. Region 3 has started a campaign in an attempt to reign in these hazards. However, these have been the Focus Four for about ten years now. And actually, OSHA has been focusing their inspections on construction sites to those areas for nearly that long.  

Falls – any time a construction worker working six feet up requires protection from falling.  However, also, think about stairs, or any uneven walking surfaces. All can lead to falling and injury or even death.

Caught-in or Between – this could be machine guarding and getting caught in a belt or pulley system. Or, it could be a trench cave-in. Or, how about being caught between two loads of supplies moved by a forklift or a crane.

Struck-by – This hazard is sometimes similar to Caught-in or Between listed above. However, being struck by a moving vehicle, fly-debris or suspended loads are good examples. One that you might not think of as a struck-by hazard is nails from nail guns. Used extensively in residential construction.

Electrocution – Openings on junction boxes, breaks in the wiring, missing ground pins, working too closely or on electrical wires. These all seem to be obvious and easy to identify.

Easy right?! So why are these four hazards still killing workers and more so why after all this time does OSHA’s Region 3 feel it necessary to have a campaign for them?  Simple isn’t it? Workers need awareness of the hazard and a method to control the risk. No kidding, so are there ways to reduce the incidence of falls, getting caught in or between moving objects or not getting electrocuted? Sure there are! More to the point why aren’t these controls being used? Easy, everyone is in a rush to get the job done no time to pay attention to the job site. Profit! Profit! Profit! – Time is money!  

To help with this several years ago, I put together a mini site risk assessment conducted by the workers. See my Safety Tidbit #22 (back then safety brief) from December 2015 titles Take 5 – Stay Alive! I just wanted the workers to take five minutes at the start of the day, job, or task and discuss the hazards and how they were controlling it. 

Many companies pride themselves on conducting Toolbox Talks. I go onto a job site and ask about their training they show me these nicely printed sheets from all different vendors. But when I ask the workers what was on the sheet most (pretty much all of them) could not tell me. Not to mention their ability to internalize the information and realize how it may be important to them specifically.

Bottom line, construction workers are still getting killed by four common foes. We need to take 5 minutes to think about what could hurt us and how to reduce or eliminate the risk. Especially starting with these four hazards: Falls, Caught-in or Between, Struck-by, and Electrocution.

Hope this was helpful and thanks for reading my Safety Tidbits ~ Bryan