Serious question, what changed about job site safety after that big OSHA fine on the Sunset project back in April

Walked onto a different site last month and saw every single ladder was tied off and tagged differently than before, anyone else notice a real shift in safety practices after that one penalty hit the news?

3 comments

3 Comments

max_hernandez2725d ago

You mentioned seeing ladders tied off and tagged differently, that's exactly the kind of change I noticed on our jobs after a similar situation a few years back. We started doing daily safety huddles and assigning a crew member to check every ladder before first use, which cut down on the stupid mistakes. Once the fines started hitting the news, the owners stopped fighting the extra time for safety checks and just let us do it right.

king.eric25d ago

Yeah, that's exactly it. @max_hernandez27 you nailed it about the fines changing everything. We had a guy take a fall off a dodgy step ladder about four years back. Nothing real bad, but it shook everyone up. After that, we started doing a quick five minute check every morning where someone walks the whole job site looking at ladders and scaffolding. The owners used to complain about the time, but once they saw a couple big fines hit a competitor in the paper, they didn't say a word. Now we tag any ladder that's got a bent rung or cracked foot and send it straight to the shop. It's just common sense, but it took a scare to get it done.

amy_west22d ago

Wow, I can't believe you guys actually do a full site walk every morning just for ladders and scaffolding. That's way more thorough than anything I've seen on the jobs I've been on, they usually just tell us to use the good ones and leave the bad ones alone. That five minute check sounds like it would save a lot of headaches later though.