Out of 1,061 construction employee fatalities in 2019, 401 of them were preventable deaths caused by falls from elevation. OSHA's 8th annual National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction event was created to raise awareness and stop injuries and fatalities from falls across the country. This year, the event takes place from May 3-7, 2021.
What is a Safety Stand-Down?
A Safety Stand-Down is a voluntary event where employers and employees talk directly to each other about safety. Any workplace can hold one—even if you’re not in construction or working at heights—and it’s as easy as taking a break to have a toolbox talk, safety activity, or simple conversation about safety that works for your workplace. You can also conduct safety equipment inspections, develop and review rescue plans, or discuss specific job hazards.
Materials and Promotions
OSHA has partnered with several key groups to facilitate this national event, and they have plenty of resources available to anyone interested in making workplaces safer. They have web pages on how to conduct a seminar, including suggestions for preparing for an event and highlights from previous events. There’s also an area to provide feedback and download participation certificates. 3M offers training and technical materials to help with your event.
Additionally, 3M has promotions to help employers get industry-leading fall protection products and training. Stand-Down and Save is a discount on fall protection training courses booked during May. The Double Your Rebate Program that runs until June 30 allows end-user customers to upgrade their DBI-SALA and Protecta fall protection harnesses to include suspension trauma safety straps.
Finally, there’s always the 3M Trade-In, Trade-Up Program. End users can always trade in their current competitive gear for rebates on a new purchase of harnesses, lanyards, SRLs, anchors, carabiners, and over 1,200 other 3M products. If you’re already a 3M Fall Protection user, you can also trade up for rebates on upgraded gear.
Gear We Love
Speaking of 3M, they make a lot of the fall protection gear we at PK Safety love, especially the DBI-SALA line. If you’re looking for a new harness, the ExoFit NEX Plus Comfort Construction Style Positioning Harness has unique features and benefits that make it especially comfortable, easy to use, long-lasting, and safe. For a secure place to anchor a harness, the Large Sliding Beam Anchor creates an anchor point on a beam. Connect it and your harness with an SRL or lanyard and you have an anchor point that slides behind you to move with your work. And for those attaching lines, we like the Nano-Lok Personal Twin-Leg SRLs for their lightweight design, ease of use, and ability to lock within inches for low-height protection: the six-foot and eight-foot lines are great.
Host an Event
OSHA has an events page that has a list of free events open to the public to help find an event in your area. If you’re interested in hosting your own event that’s open to the public, you can submit your details and contact your Regional Stand-Down Coordinator. Whether you’re hosting or participating, you probably have stories: share them by emailing oshastanddown@dol.gov or tagging posts on social media with #StandDown4Safety.
Do you have other equipment or workplace safety questions? Contact a PK Safety expert online or by phone at 800.829.9580.