Craig Galecka is a fall protection specialist with LJB, Inc., a facilities and infrastructure design firm in Dayton, Ohio. Galecka is a professional engineer and certified safety professional.
He designs conceptual and final fall-hazard solutions for public and private clients. Recent projects include an assessment of 40 Michigan government buildings for roof fall hazards and design of abatement solutions.
Like many safety professionals, Galecka relies heavily on the ANSI Z359 Fall Protection Code, an umbrella for a series of fall protection standards. The voluntary standard includes considerably more detail than the OSHA regulations regarding fall protection equipment and system specifications and design.
But Galecka sees regulations as just the minimum when it comes to protecting employees from falls.
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Prevention Vs. Protection
When Galecka makes presentations at safety meetings, he often asks his audience what comes to mind when they hear the words “fall protection.” “At least 50 percent say harness, lanyard, or anchor—some part of a PPE system.”
It’s part of a too-common attitude that fall protection starts with PPE. In fact, he believes the starting point should be a qualified person who understands both safety and engineering—from fall clearance to the location of the anchorage to system strength requirements.
“We’ve been in facilities where the management claims a system was designed by a qualified person. But as soon as we get in we can tell that, were someone to fall, the system would not withstand the load.”
According to Galecka, fall protection gear is not like other types of PPE. “Everybody knows how to put on shoes and glasses properly. But knowing how to properly don and fit a harness is not intuitive—it takes practice and training.”
He encourages owners of structures to design in fall protection from the outset. The result is not only a safer structure but also a more cost-effective one.
Galecka and his team recently reviewed a 2-year-old facility for a client. The roof had a troubling number of fall hazards. These included mechanical units placed within 10 feet of the roof edge, a walkway within 2 feet of the edge, and a parapet of 9 inches, compared with the 42 inches required by OSHA for roof-edge protection. There was no permanent ladder or access to the building’s penthouse structure where maintenance is performed.
Although retrofits are always possible, the cost is significantly lower if fall hazards are eliminated during the design phase.
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Turn on the Light
Galecka says it’s gratifying to see “the light turn on” when building owners and managers grasp the importance of a comprehensive approach to fall protection. That means a solid design supported by a competent person and executed by trained employees who can recognize, understand, and react to the hazards.
He concludes, “We always tell our clients to look at options other than PPE. And we remind them that just because their workers are tied off does not mean they’re fully protected.”
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