Fall protection: Hierarchy of fall mitigation methods

Selecting the right fall prevention or protection method is essential for ensuring your safety on the jobsite. Use the following hierarchy to assess strategies from most effective to least effective.

1. Hazard Elimination: The number one most effective strategy in reducing falls is eliminating work at heights all together. This could include utilizing a tool to reach the work from the ground or redesigning the task to avoid work at heights.

   Talk Note: Ask your employees to provide an example of where this might be possible.

2. Passive Fall Protection: Passive fall prevention systems are next on the on list of preferred strategies. Passive systems are designed to prevent the fall from occurring, are stationary, non-dynamic and do not require any special action on the part of the user. Passive examples could include approved guard rails or barricades.

3. Fall Restraint Systems: Fall restraint systems have similar goals to passive systems in not exposing the worker to the fall. However, these restraint systems are dynamic and require special interaction on the part of the user, which could include: donning a fall protection harness, utilizing a rope grab, selecting an anchor point, etc.

4. Fall Arrest Systems: Active fall protection systems are dynamic systems that require special interaction on the part of the user. These systems do not block the employee from a fall hazard but are instead meant to arrest the fall after an incident has occurred. The systems are less preferred due to: 1) employees being exposed to fall. 2) a higher margin of error during usage, and 3) potential for injury after a fall.

5. Administrative Controls: The least preferred system is administrative controls. An example of this could include a warning line or safety monitor. Warning lines are a visual indicator and do not include any static barricades that would prevent a fall. Safety monitors have limited visual range, can be subject to distractions and human error and may not be full qualified or trained.

Why it matters

Falls from heights continue to contribute to more deaths in construction than any other hazard.¹ To help reduce these incidents, it is critical for your competent person and employees to evaluate and select strategies as high up the fall protection hierarchy as possible. The goal should always be elimination of the fall hazard all together.

[1] US Bureau of Labor Statistics “National Census of Fatal Occupation Injuries in 2022.” Dec 19, 2023

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