Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: FALLING

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm in that employees were exposed to the hazard of falling or being thrown from a Boom-Supported Elevating Work Platform: Employees were exposed to excessive environmental heat while working outdoors laying pipe on a multi-family residential construction site. Employees were exposed to a heat index of approximately 100 degrees fahrenheit, as reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather station in Ruskin Florida. Such exposures may lead to the development of serious heat induced illnesses such as heat exhaustion and/or heat stroke. a) For employees laying pipe where the heat index is in excess 100 degrees fahrenheit, the employer failed to assess the heat load to which they may be exposed and failed to develop and implement a heat stress program designed to protect employees from that exposure. The crew consisted of a foreman and three laborers. One worker was working on top of the excavation handing pipe to the two workers at the bottom. Approximately two hundred feet of pipeline is completed each day. The estimated workload for these employees puts them in the moderate workload category as correlated with the guidelines established by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Means of feasible abatement include but may not be limited to: 1. Develop and implement a written heat stress program which includes, at a minimum, the following items: a) Establish provisions for a work/rest regimen to allow the work exposure time to excessive environmental heat be reduced. b) A training program informing employees about the effects of heat stress, signs and symptoms and prevention of heat induced illness and to include specific instructions and warnings concerning the effects of heat stress. c) An acclimation policy for new employees to adjust to working conditions. d) Develop and implement a pre-employment medical questionnaire designed to determine employees fitness to work in hot environments.. e) Provide protective covers or personal protective clothing to protect employees from the heat. f) Provision of ample supplies of cool drinking water.ng