Proper safety measures for construction workers could prevent work-place injuries or deaths

SPRINGFIELD - The recent fatality involving a man working on a tornado-damaged house in West Springfield has highlighted the need to take safety measures to prevent falls, according to an official with the Western Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health.

“We did not have a lot of fatalities,” Michael J. Florio, the executive director of the Western Mass COSH, said during an interview Wednesday regarding the June 1 tornadoes that devastated the area.

“Let’s not create them rebuilding.” The Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health is a nonprofit organization with 37 offices around the country.

Nineteen-year-old James Ivanov of Agawam died Jan. 11 at the scene of a tornado-damaged building in West Springfield’s Merrick section after falling four stories from the roof to the basement. He was working with a crew reframing the house at Union and George streets next door to 687 Union St. where a woman died in the June 1 tornado shielding her daughter.

The Springfield office of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death, which has been ruled accidental. Mary E. Hoye, director of the office, has declined to say whether Ivanov was wearing a harness or taking other safety measures, citing the ongoing nature of her investigation, which may not wrap up for about a month.

However, Hoye would say that it is important to take such measures such as using a harness or guardrails to prevent falls.

“It is a huge emphasis for us,” she said of preventing falls.

Florio, whose organization teaches OSHA-certified training classes, said falls are the leading case of accidental deaths. Even taking a spill from just three feet can result in fractured bones, according to him.
OSHA regulations require that when working at heights of more than six feet, roofers, electricians and bridge workers should take measures such as wearing a harness attached to a lanyard anchored to something that can withstand 5,000 pounds of force, Florio said.

“The biggest problem is getting our workers to use the equipment. It is a case of ‘I am only going to do it for a second’,” he said. “‘I’m only going to go up on that roof to nail something down for a second.’ How long does it take to fall?”

Florio said most of the local contractors are pretty good about taking safety precautions, but there are some problems with contractors from out of the area.

Source : www.MassLive.com