Fall Hazard Awareness or Competent Person Training?
OSHA expects every exposed worker to be trained, and expects one named person on site to be able to spot and fix fall hazards. These are different courses.
- OSHA Focus Four: Fall Hazards. The page you are on. One hour of awareness training for anyone exposed to a fall hazard.
- Fall Protection for the Competent Person. For the person the employer names to assess fall hazards, select systems and take corrective action. View the OSHA 1926.500: Fall Protection for the Competent Person
- Fall Protection. A middle option focused on the protection systems themselves rather than the Focus Four framing. View the Fall Protection
At What Height Does OSHA Require Fall Protection?
The answer changes with the work, and the course opens with the five numbers a construction worker needs to hold.
- Six feet in construction. Employees on a walking or working surface with an unprotected side or edge 6 feet or more above a lower level must be protected by a guardrail system, safety net system or personal fall arrest system (29 CFR 1926.501(b)(1)).
- Ten feet on scaffolds. Each employee on a scaffold more than 10 feet above a lower level must be protected from falling (1926.451(g)(1)).
- Fifteen feet in steel erection. Steel erection uses 15 feet, with connectors and controlled decking zone workers between 15 and 30 feet following their own rules (1926.760).
- Four feet in general industry. General industry uses 4 feet and shipyard work uses 5 feet, which is why the trigger is not one number.
Height is only the trigger. Covers over holes and skylights must hold at least twice the weight put on them whatever the drop (1926.502(i)(2)).
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great lesson