Blog

On average, there are more than 800 construction worker fatalities per year. Falls are the number one cause of fatalities among construction workers. Harnesses, self-retracting lifelines, and lanyards don't always provide enough protection. What you may not know is that OSHA regulation 1910.23(a) requires protection for floor openings. Garlock Safety Systems has been addressing fall protection and roofing needs since 1959. Garlock’s manufacturing facility features a highly …

Contact with objects" incidents are the 3rd highest cause of death in the workplace. When it comes to a defense against falling tools, people often rely on hard hats, tool nets, and toe boards. In the last annual Bureau of Labor Statistics report, 52,260 workers were struck by falling objects. That's just the incidents that were reported to OSHA, the real number is likely much higher. Since the year 2000, Python Safety has been addressing the need for protection against falling objects. …

There are more women performing work that requires personal protective equipment (PPE) than ever before. A 1999 OSHA report stated that poorly fitting safety gear did not function properly nor provide the intended protection. While the situation has improved in the past 13 years, there still are relatively few full-body work harnesses that fit most women well. There are some options that are better than others, and our female customers have let us know which harnesses in particular a …

Falls in confined spaces are often painful. Sometimes they require rescue from other team members. In these cases it's important that the fallen worker isn't simply hanging by their harness for the entire time it takes the rescue team to get them out of there. A typical harness, even though they meet OSHA and ANSI standards for fall protection, will really squeeze the legs when a worker is suspended, and this can lead to a serious problem called suspension trauma (otherwise known as Ort …

I haven't seen it yet, so there's no chance I'm going to spoil it for you. Apparently the Batman movie features some very questionable safety practices. In fact "practices" is probably the wrong word. If you tried this once, that would be all the practice you received. Then you'd be dead. Christian Bale aka Bruce Wayne aka Batman does some serious climbing with only a rope tied to a belt. Hasn't he heard of OSHA? Does he call that PPE? What's wrong with a full-body harness Mr. Wayne? Don …

The old saying that you get what you pay for is especially true when we are talking about the most comfortable work harnesses. While there are hundreds of harnesses on the market that meet OSHA and ANSI standards, most of them fail to meet basic standards of comfort. For instance, the most economical fall protection harness we carry at pksafety.com is the Protecta AB17510. It's a fine harness if an OSHA inspector shows up on the job site. It's a basic, functional, 3-point harness tha …

Wristlets are deployed when there is no other way to get a rescuer or victim out of a confined space. Most often this is because the entry is too narrow or restricted to allow retrieval with a regular harness and a D-ring attachment. Wristlets must be used carefully because they can put so much strain on a persons joints and muscles. This can be painful and may cause injury, but in an emergency they can be an excellent rescue tool. Wrist straps are also used for horizontal extr …

Working at height can be dangerous. Welding is also rife with hazardous possibilities. Do them both at the same time and you're a special type of person. This photo was taken during a highway traffic stop in Costa Rica. While I don't consider the typical Costa Rican construction project to be overly safe, I was amazed to see the level of safety exhibited in this photo. First let's look at the highway workers. They're all wearing reflective safety vests. They are also wearing hard hat …

Better Call Saul is the new prequel spin-off from Breaking Bad is about a small-time lawyer hustling to make ends meet. In the first episode he has a big billboard put up to advertise his practice. The guy putting up the billboard falls, his DBI-SALA harness works, the lawyer rushes to the rescue, comedy ensues. The reason we're mentioning this isn't just because it's a good tie-in with something in popular culture, and therefore will likely get way more visibility than one of our regular saf …

Fall protection needs an anchorage that is capable of holding in the event of a fall. Makes sense. But how do you know if a certain point is beefy enough to hold a full-grown man and his tools doing a 6-12 ft. free fall? Unless you've had a certified anchorage installed, chances are you won't know for certain. So try to err on the side of caution. The old adage about anchorage points is that they need to support 5,000 lbs. We usually tell folks that if they can imagine dangling a Ford F …