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Health, Safety & Environmental Bulletin No 060

M Mott – 23 October 2007

Fatal Fall

In the past month two workers have fallen from height on ExxonMobil sites due to them not having
their lanyards secured. One of these falls was fatal.

In Japan a 26 year old construction employee fell through the canopy roof as he was finishing work.
He was wearing a harness, but had not secured it to the safety rope as he walked away from the work
area to the perimeter. On the way to the perimeter, the worker with his equipment in his both hands
staggered and unexpectedly stepped onto the roof skin, then broke it, and fell to the ground.

reconstruction

In September a certified scaffolder with 30 years experience died after falling from a scaffold that he
was dismantling. He was wearing a harness but had disconnected his lanyard in order to move to
another position, he lost balance and fell. He died two days later in hospital.

Both of these incidents could have been prevented if the workers had properly used the health and
safety equipment they had been provided with. Both were wearing their harnesses and had been
secured to the structure, but had disconnected in order to move position. Harnesses are of no use unless
they are secured to a suitable anchor position – always ensure when you require a harness that it is
always secured using an appropriate length of lanyard to a purpose made anchor position.