gorms

Recently at one factory we work at, who recently changed ownership to a large "General" company, started implimenting safety, safety, and more safety regs, especially on outside contractors like myself. A lot of the work I have to do involves usng a scissor lift they provide, small one that can barely hold 2 people, ceilings are about 25 ft in most areas. Now we are required to use a harness, attached to the lift with a retractor lanyard. On top of chaining off a 10' perimeter around the lift, obtaining a work order permit, etc etc. Sometimes just to change one bulb.

I can't stand it! And I don't think they are required, but I can't get that through anyone's head there. It's part of the new rules, so that's it. I'm not a small feller so even without being tied up in a nylon web I need to watch myself on the small lift they have. Now even just to bend down and pick up a screw on the deck the retractor locks up and throws me off balance. Add this to 100* temps in the ceiling and I have a bad day.

Anyone else have experience with this?

6cylinders

Yes, oil refineries , they have their own rules and all contractors must comply.

cdennyb

I'm a little smaller, only 135# but I feel your pain brother. I was a certified welder and working off a lift, harness, personal protection equipment, welding hood, gloves, steel toed boots, nomex coveralls, 100 degree heat, etc. made it almost impossible to get anything done!
Just take a deep breath, keep saying to yourself... "I get paid by the hour." and take your time, jump thru the hoops and take it to the bank!

railroaderone

Old job had to wear a harness to get into bucket not lifted with strap to focus lights 6 foot lynard 6.9 feet to ground. Makes sence

cougar

It's not the fall, it's the sudden stop at the bottom. That is why you should wear one. At one place I worked, we had a bucket lift torch. The guy was about 25' up and couldn't lower the bucket. While one person fought the fire, another lowered the bucket, while a third stood ready in case the guy did jump. The only casualty was the lift.

Lary Ellis (Top)

I saw a guy get killed when he fell off a scissor lift and fell 20' landing on his melon on the concrete floor. He stepped up on the side rail to quickly reach up a little higher instead of simply raising the lift a little.

It is senseless things like that the drive the Insurance company's to demand such tough safety regs...if the company's do not comply they can not get coverage...

I know another fellow that also fell 20 ft and landed on his head/neck/shoulder and is now disabled. He was on a ladder on a slick concrete floor and the guy holding the bottom of the ladder was sidetracked by a phone call allowing the ladder to slide out from under him.

Both of these accidents could have clearly been avoided as they were human error...you just can't fix stupidity so they try to make it so you can't hurt yourself....sounds like they just about got it done, once you can no longer do your job they win!

jstone44720

The answer is yes, according to OHSHA. I always thought the retracting lanyards were silly that it took 6 feet to uncoil one and I was only 10 feet off the ground until our safety guy told me that if the belt moved too quickly it would lock like a seatbelt.

Numidian

I bet that dead guy wishes he'd had to deal with a lanyard....

Lary Ellis (Top)

I never understood why you would step on the side rail instead of just raising the lift a few more inches.....too big a hurry to use common sense I guess and that is why we have OSHA because common sense is not so common.

gorms

I understand wearing them can save a life if you fall, just like wearing a helmet on the sidewalk will keep you safe when a tree branch falls suddenly. I also understand the people that create these rules don't know me from a hole in the wall, and I've seen some interesting "workers" use lifts before. I guess I wouldn't be whining if it did save my life, I just hate when it's required no matter what. Those big old extending boom lifts are another story, something ain't right about them.

One former co-worker was an older guy for the work, around 60, and he was downright nuts. OSHA would have a field day with his practices. I was on the ground while he had our 55' bucket truck straight up, with a 2x8 across the top of the bucket to work on a sign. The old truck took a while to get the boom into position sometimes, so if he needed something he would just hop out and scale down the boom to get to the truck....just a few off the top of my head.


My father was in a bucket truck (25 years ago) when it caught fire for the final time. Problem was everyone else kept putting the fire out, so he boss kept sending it out.

PistolWhipt

We are required to when working at height. Driving it around the yard ...no.

NE frmhnd

I worked in a warehouse for a while. Most of us never had a problem with stepping off the side of the picker and into the racks to retrieve a box, except for one guy, he stepped right off his forks several times in the year I was there. He's also the guy who tried claiming that he ran into a rack and hurt his wrist because the picker threw a code. Trouble was when they threw a code they locked the brake and stopped right there.

SIXSLUG

You should also wear a face shield, ear plugs, safety glasses, athletic cup,knee pads, supplemental oxygen, condom and two pairs of socks...just in case!!

rockcrawler304

I was doing some contractor work at the local University and we had to send a guy down into a man hole. The TOTAL depth of the hole was 3 feet!! We STILL had to have the full barriers, tripod with wench over the hole that held the safety harness hook and wear the safety harness!!! It took about an hour and a half to get all the supplies to the hole, set up and tear down and take everything back to the truck. The actual time IN THE HOLE was about 5 minutes.

j_martin