 Without a doubt, fall protection safety rules and equipment are on the minds of these workers. But these workers should be equally concerned about fall protection. Between 1998 and 2005, in Washington State alone, there have been 40 fatalities and over 5,000 serious, that's lost time, injuries in falls from elevated surfaces in the construction industry alone. 40 deaths and over 5,000 serious injuries in just seven years. If you are employed in Washington State, you work under the protection and regulation of the Department of Labor and Industry's Division of Occupational Safety and Health. DASH rules may be more strict than OSHA rules. In the case of fall protection, they are. In Washington State, some type of fall protection is required for most employees, but they are working at a height of 4 feet or more above the adjoining surface. The basic rule is that employees who pass through or work on an open-sided walking working surface or platform that is at least 45 inches or more in all directions and that stands 4 or more feet above the adjacent floor or ground level must be protected by standard guardrails or the equivalent. A standard guardrail always includes a top rail and a mid rail and is 39 to 45 inches in height. Instead of the normal horizontal rails, you may use vertical pickets or netting. A walking working surface is defined as an area where the dimensions are 45 inches or more in all directions and workers will pass through the area or conduct work while standing on the area. If that walking working surface has a skylight, opening or hole greater than 12 inches wide it must be covered and secured with material that will support at least 200 pounds or guarded by a railing. If either is temporarily removed, an attendant to warn of the fall hazard must stay at the hazard site until the cover or guardrail is replaced. The attendant must have no other job responsibilities. In fact, all openings in a walking working surface need to be guarded or covered and secured. The forefoot rule not only applies to the surface where people walk or work it also applies to the walls that keep them from falling off the raised surface. A wall or petition opening that is at least 30 inches high and 18 inches wide through which a person could fall at least four feet to a lower surface must be protected by the use of standard guardrails or the equivalent. This does not apply to openings with a sill height of at least 39 inches above the walking working surface. The basic rule in Washington State is that fall protection starts at four feet. But there are exceptions. Installing trusses is not covered by these rules because a walking working surface has not been established. But once the surface is installed on the trusses or joists, then it becomes a walking working surface and the four foot fall protection rules are in effect. While the surface or decking is being installed, it is called leading edge work and it falls under the ten foot rule instead of the four foot rule. Leading edge work is the advancing edge of the floor, roof or form work which changes location as additional floor, roof or form sections are added. In addition to leading edge work, roofing work also is an exemption to the four foot walking working surface rule. Roofing work is defined as the hoisting, storage, application and removal of roofing materials including related insulation, sheet metal and vapor barriers. When roofing or leading edge work is being done, fall protection is only required when the fall hazard is ten feet or greater. This is an exception to the four foot walking working surface rule. An option that is only available while doing leading edge or roofing work on low pitched roofs is the use of warning lines and monitors. A low pitched roof has a pitch of 412 or less and is most frequently used for large warehouses. Warning lines must be six to 25 feet back from the edge and encircle the entire work area. Inside the warning lines, workers are free to work without other fall protection so long as there are no floor or roof openings. When employees go outside the warning lines into what is called the control zone there must be other fall protection used or the safety monitor. A safety monitor is the least effective means of protecting workers and can be used only in very limited situations and must conform to the specifications as outlined in the rule. There are other areas where employees must be protected from fall hazards of ten feet or more. These include working from any other surface that does not meet the definition of a walking working surface. This could include structural steel members or the top plate of a stud wall. To do so you may use safety nets, a catch platform, personal fall arrest systems or personal fall restraint systems. Any time there are fall hazards of ten feet or more the employer must develop a work site specific fall protection work plan for every job. All employees must be trained on the fall protection work plan. Another exception to the four foot rule is the scaffold. Employees on a scaffold must be ten or more feet above the lower level before they need to be protected by standard guardrails or a personal fall arrest system. There are some exceptions that apply to concrete and masonry operations. If the employees are placing or tying reinforcing steel more than four feet above any adjacent surface they must be protected by either a personal fall arrest system, a positioning device system or a safety net system. For climbing a rebar curtain the employee must have a belt or full harness with a hook to grab the rebar. Ladders must be secured at the top and the bottom. Both hands must be free when climbing a ladder. Falls from ladders can be even more dangerous than falls from a solid surface because the ladder often becomes an added hazard. If your employees use a boom supported elevating work platform such as seen here they must wear a safety harness and lanyard device fixed to the attachment points of the boom regardless of the height. Then there are instances in which fall protection is always required no matter what the fall distance is. For example regardless of height all open-sided floors, walkways, platforms or runways above or adjacent to dangerous or hazardous equipment must be guarded with a standard railing and tow board. All runways or ramps that are four or more feet above the floor or ground level must be protected on all open sides by a standard guardrail or equivalent. If tools, machine parts or materials are used on the runways there must also be a tow board in addition to the guardrail. Ramps and runways need to be at least 18 inches or more in width with a pitch of 20 degrees or less from the horizontal and cleats or other treatment to prevent slipping. There are two types of fall protection fall restraint and fall arrest. Fall restraint includes guardrails, personal fall restraint systems and warning lines with a safety monitor. They are all meant to keep you from falling off the edge. Fall arrest includes safety nets, a catch platform and a personal fall arrest system. They are designed to restrict the distance you fall and thereby limit the severity of your injuries. Let us demonstrate this dummy is designed to show what would happen to a 200 pound person in a free fall. First it is dropped without the shock absorber. Notice the violent reaction of the body. The dummy experienced 2,450 pounds of force as it stopped. That's why you can't catch yourself with your bare hands if you fall. Now the same dummy is dropped with a shock absorber built into the fall arrest system. The body comes to a fast stop but without a violent reaction. It experienced only 638 pounds of force as it came to a stop. When working with any personal fall protection device it is extremely important that when an employee puts the device on they check for frayed or worn parts and most importantly they check and double check to see all connectors are correctly fastened. Make sure the anchor point can support at least 5,000 pounds and if it is a manufactured anchor point it is installed to the manufacturer's specifications. In a fall your life depends on the anchor holding. These rules were developed in cooperation with the construction industry, workers associations, unions, safety experts and the state government. They are there to protect everyone when employees know they are working safely and don't have to worry about falling they can work more efficiently. Taking care of injured workers and doing the paperwork is not a good use of anyone's time. For more information on the subject of fall protection please visit our website at LNI.WA.GOV or give us a call at 1-800-4-B-Safe.