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closeThursday, Oct. 08, 2009
Falls still problem for Hanford workers (w/video)
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
Worker falls continue to be a problem at Hanford, with a recent fall captured on video.
The subcontractor employee near the K East Basin was on top of a 10-foot-tall scaffolding last week when he leaned over a railing too far and fell to the ground below.
His injuries were not serious.
But fall prevention has been in the spotlight at the Hanford nuclear reservation since a worker on another project was seriously injured in July when he fell through a catwalk 50 feet above the floor of the 336 Building in Hanford's 300 Area. The Washington Closure Hanford worker continues to recover at home from injuries that included broken legs.
Hanford contractors since then have reviewed their fall protection programs, and most contractor employees have been required to participate in meetings, training or other reviews to learn more about preventing falls.
After the fall last week near the K East Basin, subcontractor Federal Engineers & Constructors conducted a safety stand-down for retraining, said FE&C spokeswoman Kathy Love. It's also done a complete review of the incident and is working closely with CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., the DOE contractor for the work.
Work was under way Sept. 29 to haul contaminated soil dug up from beneath the K East Basin to a landfill for low-level radioactive waste.
The video was being shot to meet extensive requirements to document and record how $1.96 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money is being spent on Hanford cleanup work.
Two workers were on scaffolding on each side of a container tying down a cover using long-handled tools, when one worker leaned over the railing of the scaffold to secure the cover on the rear of the container.
The video shows him toppling over the railing and grabbing it to break his fall and avoid landing on his head.
The worker was transferred to AdvanceMed Hanford on the site to be treated for shoulder pain and given pain medicine and then was released to return to work with some medical restrictions, said Dee Millikin, spokeswoman for CH2M Hill. The restrictions were lifted Monday.
The video now is being used for a safety critique of the incident.
When the fall occurred, soil cleanup at the K East Basin was stopped immediately, but work resumed later in the day.
Work procedures have been changed to have workers climb down from the scaffolding to finish securing the tarp from the ground rather than reaching for the center of the back of the tarp from the scaffolding, Millikin said.
The scaffolding complied with Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements that guardrails be 38 to 45 inches high, and CH2M Hill has verified that other guardrails are the correct height, Millikin said.
CH2M Hill also reported an incident in August in which a worker almost fell 40 feet from scaffolding in a building near U Plant in central Hanford.
The worker was making a safety check of a scaffold when he grabbed a horizontal support that rotated and caused him to lose his balance, according to a recently released weekly staff report of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. He was able to grab a secure support to keep from falling.
The worker was not wearing fall protection gear after he had determined that the gear was not feasible. Since then, CH2M Hill has required two people to review whether fall protection gear is feasible and, if it is not, to get approval from a vice president before work proceeds.
CH2M Hill had an all-hands meeting Oct. 1 to discuss safety and talk about a program to help workers watch out for each other. The goal is to show workers beyond the contractor's safety specialists how to identify practices or actions that might pose a safety risk and help each other avoid them.
The video of the fall last week is posted at www.tricityherald.com.
-- Annette Cary: 582-1533; acary@tricityherald.com
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