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Falls are the leading cause of death and injury in the United States workplace. Working at heights can be very dangerous; however, with proper fall protection, we can dramatically reduce the chance of death or serious bodily injury. At SMU, we require any employee and/or student to protect themselves from falling at heights. The SMU Fall protection program provides detailed information on how to reduce fall risks.

At SMU, there are many types of elevated surfaces that need fall protection: roofs, scaffolding, aerial lifts, catwalks, skylights, fixed ladders are a few common elevated surfaces.

OSHA requires that employees must take precautions from unprotected edges 6’ feet or more in construction and 4’ feet or more in general industry. Unless otherwise directed, SMU uses 4’ as its minimum standard. Also, fall protection is required for anyone on an aerial lift.

At SMU, we use the 5 step method to eliminate fall hazards. SMU ORM recommends trying to remove the hazard or adding guardrails first. If unable to eliminate the hazard, fall restraint and fall arrest systems may be used. Fall restraint and fall arrest systems require special gear and training before use. Please reach out to SMU ORM for any questions or need required training.

The 5 Steps to eliminate fall hazards are

1. Fall Elimination: Eliminate the hazard or the reason to work at heights
2. Fall Prevention: Adding guard rails to unprotect edges or to cover holes.
3. Fall Restraint PPE: that is used to restrict a person’s ability to get near an unprotected edge

4. Personal Fall Arrest System (PFAS)
   1. Unless working on a ladder, scaffold, or scissor lift, OSHA requires fall protection when exposed to a 4-foot fall or greater. Ladders, scaffolds, and scissor lifts have their own fall prevention requirements. People must be trained before wearing fall protection PPE.
   2. PFAS is used to control the rate of fall rather than preventing a fall.
   3. Fall protection PPE or PFAS is made up of 3 parts known as the ABC
      1. Anchorages
         • Anchorage connectors secure connecting devices to a support structure over 5000lbs per person.
      2. Body Harness
         • A full-body harness is a type of PPE that attaches a person to the fall protection chain. There are many types of full-body harnesses. Regardless of make or model, they must be properly sized for the wearer, inspected, used, and maintained according to the manufacturer.
      3. C – Connecting components
         • There are multiple types of connecting components. Connectors attach the body harness to the anchorages points. 

5. Administrative Control
   1. Under the limited circumstance, SMU allows controlled access zones. Controlled Access Zones is an area where a warning perimeter is set back from the edge of a building. This warning line will act as a barrier for people working on an unprotected roof. Controlled Access zones have certain limitations, such as warning lines must be at least 6 feet from the unguarded edge.
   2. If using a controlled access zone, please notify SMU EHS for proper setup and takedown operations.