When you’ve got employees working at heights, you have every safety measure in place to make sure that none of them fall.
Every worker has been equipped with personal fall protection equipment and trained on how to use it. There are guardrails installed near leading edges. All scaffolding, ladders, and walking surfaces have been thoroughly inspected and cleared.
You have done everything you can to minimize the risk of someone falling to a lower level.
But what about their tools?
Why You Need a Dropped Object Prevention Plan
Dropping tools or materials while working isn’t always a big deal. It’s nothing a good pair of steel toed boots can’t handle, after all.
The problem is when they’re dropped from heights.
Or to be more precise, the real problem is when they’re dropped from above – and there’s someone below.
When that happens, the steel toed boots aren’t much help, and the resulting injuries can be severe.
There are approximately 45,000 falling object injuries each year on American worksites, making up 4% of all total injuries. And figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2021 revealed that falling objects were responsible for 227 work-related fatalities.
Clearly, this is an issue that needs to be addressed. If you have people working at heights, you need measures in place to ensure that none of the tools and materials they’re working with fall over the edge.
A good place to start is with the 3 T’s of dropped object safety: trapping, tethering, and topping.
With all three, you’ll be able to prevent many of the accidents and near misses that take place when objects fall from above. So, let’s take a closer look at each of them and how they work together.\
(Find out How to Put Together a Safety Program for Working at Heights)
The 3 T’s of Dropped Object Safety
Trapping
Trapping objects means adding attachments and connectors to objects so they can be secured in place. Just like a worker would attach their fall arrest system to something sturdy, trapping tools allows them to be attached to an anchor point.
The actual design of the trapping device will depend on the tool it’s applied to. It could, for instance, be a sleeve that straps around the tool, a carabiner that clips securely to a part of it, or an attachment that slips over it securely.
Tethering
Once your tools are trapped, they can then be tethered.
Tethering essentially means attaching the tool to an anchor point, via the trapping device that has been added to the tool.
Tool tethers function just like fall protection lanyards – they’re sturdy, shock absorbing, and prevent the object from reaching the lower level and causing injury to those below.
Tethers can attach to traditional anchor points, like railings or other solid features of the work environment. Depending on the type of lanyard, the anchor could also be the user’s toolbelt or even their wrist.
Topping
In many cases, tools and objects are dropped not when they’re in use but when they’re being carried.
Items can slip out a worker’s toolbelt when they bend down. Materials can fumble out of their hands when they’re being lifted to a higher level. Workers can drop objects when carrying them across walking surfaces like a scaffold.
That’s where topping comes in, which simply means carrying objects in bags that can be closed off at the top.
These can be tool pouches that can be zipped shut, closed with a flap, or any other means of keeping items sealed inside when not in use. They can also be fabric hoist buckets that have a lid that zips closed to prevent the contents from tipping out.
Keep Objects Where They Belong
When work is being done at heights, it’s not good enough to simply hope that everything on the upper level will stay there.
Dropped objects happen – and happen all too frequently. Without a plan in place to prevent it, it’s only a matter of time before something falls and someone gets hurt.
So make sure all workers can trap, tether, and top their tools. Those walking and working below will thank you.