Description:The Fall-Safe program is an organizational intervention research program to prevent falls in construction. Fall-Safe is funded by NIOSH and the Center to Protect Workers’ Rights. The Fall-Safe program was developed by West Virginia University Safety and Health Extension.
The Fall-Safe program uses a contractor certification program to improve management use of existing fall prevention equipment and practices. The program involves developing or re-writing a company fall protection policy, worker and supervisor training, and implementation of the Fall-Safe fall hazard management system. The management system includes daily jobsite inspections of fall hazards, bi-weekly fall hazard safety committees on each jobsite and weekly fall hazard inspections by the safety director. The accountability factor of the daily inspections holds the job site competent person accountable. To assure adherence to the program, WVU acts as a third party overseer. This is done by conducting an audit of each company's program management material as well as a site condition compliance audit based on the OSHA requirements.
WVU also conducts audits of a control group of contractors that are not implementing the Fall-Safe program on their jobsites. Currently WVU has completed baseline audits and four quarterly audits of construction sites of 16 contractors totaling 80 audits.
The audit is used as an evaluative tool to compare change in score between baseline audit and quarterly audits for the control and intervention contractors. In the longer run, the project will include sufficient power to compare Workers’ Compensation claims for falls between intervention and control groups.
Fall-Safe has also developed a software program for the quarterly audits. The software was developed for use on Pocket PC PDAs. The audit software is a comprehensive audit tool designed to include all possible fall hazard conditions on a construction site.
The Fall-Safe program has recently expanded to partner with Construction Safety Council, Chicago, IL and St. Paul Insurance Co., St. Paul, MN. These two groups are implementing the Fall-Safe program for contractors throughout the mid-west region of the US. Also, WVU is adding on an additional 16 contractors. This will expand our sample group to approximately 60 contractors, nation wide.
Contact
Information:Mark
Fullen, MS, Project
Co-PI, Coordinator, Auditor
Safety & Health Extension
West Vrginia University
130 Tower Lane, P.O. Box 6615
Morgantown, WV 26506-6615
Phone (304) 293-3096/3200 or (800) 626-4748
Fax (304) 293-5905
Janet
Della-Giustina, MS,
Marketing Coordinator
Safety & Health Extension
West Vrginia University
130 Tower Lane, P.O. Box 6615
Morgantown, WV 26506-6615
Phone (304) 293-3096/8579 or (800) 626-4748
Fax (304) 293-5905
