ANSI Z359: Defining Managed Fall Protection - 06/29/2006
Proposed revisions to the ANSI Z359 family of standards establish a comprehensive, managed approach to fall protection.
Falls account for 8 percent of all fatal occupational injuries from trauma and some 36 percent of construction fatalities. Causes of fatal falls can include unstable working surfaces, misuse of fall arrest equipment and systems and human error due to lack of training.
Members of the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) Z359 committee hope the proposed revision of the voluntary standards will provide employers, employees working at heights, supervisors, fall protection program managers and system and equipment designers and engineers with the standardized approach they need to develop effective fall protection management programs.
“We don’t want corporations buying one component of the standards, although they can,” says Randall Wingfield, president and owner of Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based Gravitec Systems Inc. and chairman of ANSI Z359. “It’s an entire family of documents that can be used to develop a full, managed, fall protection program.
OSHA standard 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(1) states that “Each employee on a walking/working surface (horizontal and vertical surface) with an unprotected side or edge which is 6 feet (1.8 m) or more above a lower level shall be protected from falling by the use of guardrail systems, safety net systems or personal fall arrest systems.” The standard notes that employers have the duty to “determine if the walking/working surfaces on which its employees are to work have the strength and structural integrity to support employees safely.” Employers also have a duty to provide guardrail systems, safety net systems or personal fall arrest systems for employees working at heights above 6 feet.
