PAST ISSUES OF THE CONSTRUCTION SITE PERSONAL INJURY NEWSLETTER

FALL PROTECTION FOR DECKING OPERATIONS

On February 10, 1999, OSHA issued its Directive Instruction CPL 2-1 explaining to its compliance officers the enforcement policy for steel erection in the interim period between the publication of the proposed new Subpart R and the promulgation of the final Subpart R. This Directive superceded the July 10, 1995, Memorandum on Fall Protection Policy on steel erection. This Directive will expire on February 10, 2000.

What the Directive basically states is that employers engaged in steel erection decking operations can choose to comply with either the proposed steel erection standard rather than the existing standard, but, in any event, employers must continue to follow current requirements for protecting employees working in controlled decking zones. Thus, steel erection employers are given the option of complying with either the current steel erection standard or the new proposed Subpart R with this one exception. The proposed Subpart R allows deckers to work up to a height of 30 feet before fall protection is required. (This is absolutely ridiculous.) However, the current standard requires deckers working in single-tier buildings to be protected from falls at 25 feet. The OSHA compliance instruction states that this 25-foot fall protection threshold for deckers still must be followed during the interim period before the promulgation of the new final Subpart R.

"Steel erection activities" is also defined to involve the movement and erection of structural steel including the initial connecting, moving point-to-point, installing metal floor or roof decking, welding, bolting and similar activities. This definition also includes installation of structural steel on concrete and masonry walls or supports.

These steel erection activities do not include the erection of steel members such as lintels, stairs, railing, curtain walls, windows, architectural metal work, column covers, catwalks or the placement of rebar in concrete structures.

Comment: To allow decking operations to proceed at 25-foot or 30-foot without fall protection is absolutely ludicrous and inexcusable. Decking work is the number one cause of work-related death and injuries to ironworkers and it is precisely because there is no fall protection provided at heights upwards of 25 to 30 feet. The Conour Law Firm, LLC  has represented injured ironworkers and the estates of deceased ironworkers who have been injured or killed in falls of 25 feet or less during decking operations and other steel erection activities. Just because OSHA ignores construction site safety for steel erectors by failing to require fall protection at 25 or 30 feet does not mean that a civil jury in a lawsuit would do the same. Indeed, jurors made up of every day people in the community often find OSHA standards to be less than reasonable in the protection of worker safety. If you or a loved one have been injured by a fall at a construction site, you may wish to call Bill for further consultation.