Advise & Consult, Inc. | October 26, 2015

What are Fall Hazards?

‘Fall hazards’ is a pretty self explanatory term in itself. The hazards or perils of a fall are common on construction sites and most of the workers are exposed to them on a daily basis as they work to earn their livelihood.

A fall hazard quite simply put is any object or obstruction in your work site, that can cause you to lose your balance and bodily support causing you to fall or trip through no fault of your own. On a construction site any working or walking place can be a potential fall hazard.

As far as the rules and regulations for construction goes, you are at a risk of a fall or a trip hazard whenever you work at a height of four feet or more. For the construction industry, the fall protection limit is six feet and above. Most construction companies are therefore expected to provide their employees with proper fall protection.

Fall Construction Accidents

Before we look at the construction issues that can cause the risk of a fall hazard, here are a few examples of what can happen.

• A worker falling from the skylight opening carrying something to the level below, cause extensive injuries
• A scaffold that was makeshift collapsing under the weight of a few worker, injuring all of them seriously.
• A roofer was looking to remove a roof opening and fell 21 feet to the construction floor below and was killed.

Major Construction Issues that Lead to a Fall Hazard

• Roof edges that are unprotected, unchartered opening on the floor and the roof, leading edges and structural steel.
• Faulty construction of the scaffold
• Low quality, unsafe portable ladders

If you have suffered any such injury, using an expert construction witness will increase your chances of success. Just visit the website https://www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com/ and get a true expert witness today!