Fall protection training for new construction workers, an enforceable mast-climbing standard, and general duty clause citations for failure to wear seat belts were covered in sessions at the 19th annual conference of the Construction Safety Council held Feb. 17-18 in Chicago.

Fall Protection Training

School-based training of apprentice construction workers appears to be effective but should feature hands-on, participatory learning rather than listening to lectures and reading government regulations, another researcher said.

The training also should consist of practicing tasks in a real-world setting, according to a document provided to BNA by Vicki Kaskutas, a researcher at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo.

The research, conducted by Washington University with assistance from Hester Lipscomb, a researcher at Duke University, was used to improve the fall prevention curriculum at a carpenter apprenticeship training program in St. Louis, according to Kaskutas.

The program was a four-year school-based agenda jointly operated by the union Carpenters' Joint Apprenticeship Program of St. Louis and the Home Builders Association, which represents contractors, she said.

To identify needed improvements to the program, Washington University used data from apprentice questionnaires, focus groups, and worksite audits to identify gaps in their training as well as misperceptions and unsafe behaviors identified through audits and surveys, Kaskutas said.

Under the four-year program, apprentices work for a contractor full-time for four years and come to a school-based training program at the Carpenters' Joint Apprenticeship Program approximately every six months for two months of intensive training, Kaskutas told BNA after the conference.

They have one week of school-based training before they go to work, she said.

Mast Climbing

A standard for mast climbing could be in place this year, an industry representative said.

“I'd like to see something in 2009,” Kevin O'Shea of International Profit Associates Inc. (IPA) said. The standard would be enforceable if it was incorporated by reference in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's standards, he said. IPA is a consulting company headquartered in Buffalo Grove, Ill.

Mast-climbing platforms are modular work platform systems attached to vertical supports, allowing employees to work on a building's facade.

Typically, they are used by masons and stucco specialists.

Compared to traditional scaffolding, the mast-climbing scaffold is erected quickly, easily raised or lowered, good for ergonomics since it can be positioned, and increases productivity.

Mast climbing long has been more prevalent in Europe and some parts of Asia than in the United States, O'Shea said.

In the past five years, it increasingly has been used in the United States since many companies view it as less expensive than other methods, he noted.

Over the last three years, there have been several deaths per year in the United States and numerous injuries, O'Shea said. Annually, there are about 2,400 “near misses” per year. “Accidents are never small, they are catastrophic,” he said.

Seat Belt Citations

Failure to wear seat belts while using certain construction equipment was the most commonly cited violation in fiscal 2008 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act's general duty clause, an agency official said.

There were 641 general duty citations in state-plan states, those states administering their own occupational safety and health program, according to John Newquist, assistant regional administrator for OSHA's Region V.

Twenty-four states plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have OSHA-approved enforcement and regulatory authority.

Of the 641 citations, 413 were in the 1700 Standard International Classification code for special trade contractors, 133 in the 1500 SIC code for general contractors, and 95 citations in the 1600 SIC code for highway and heavy-duty contractors, Newquist said at the conference.

In calendar year 2007, 250 occupation-related fatalities nationwide occurred on the highway as a result of a jackknifed or overturned vehicle not involved in a collision, a Region V spokesman told BNA.

These accidents could have occurred because of loss of control, swerving to avoid someone or something, or the weather, he said.

In addition, in 2007, there were 165 occupational nonhighway fatalities due to an overturned vehicle, which includes those on farms and industrial premises, he said.

OSHA has used Section 5(a)(1), known as the general duty clause, in construction since 1971, he said.

The provision requires employers to provide safe employment and is used when no specific safety and health standard applies.

There are four components for citing under the general duty clause, he added. OSHA has to prove a hazard existed, the employer had knowledge of the hazard, an employee was exposed to the hazard, and there is a feasible means to correct the hazard, he said.

Copyright 2009, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.