The Missing Guardrail: 3 Fall Protection Rules From One Bad Morning

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The story

Seven A.M. on a commercial job site. Dave and Luis are installing flashing along the edge of a low roof, about twenty feet above the parking lot. The roof has a guardrail. Most of it, anyway. Yesterday, a section of guardrail near the corner was taken down to hoist materials. Nobody put it back. Dave’s harness is in the truck. The job will only take an hour, and he has done it a hundred times.

What went wrong

1. One: an unprotected edge. Anyone on a walking or working surface with an unprotected side or edge six feet or more above a lower level must be protected by guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems.
2. Two: the guardrail was removed, and nobody owned putting it back. A removed guardrail is an open hole in your fall protection.
3. Three: no personal fall arrest system. A harness in the truck protects nobody.
4. This is not rare. Fall protection has been OSHA’s top cited violation for 15 years in a row.

Learn the full rules in the 30-minute Fall Protection Competent Person course.

The same day, done right

• Here is the same morning, done right. Before anyone goes up, the missing section is replaced.
• Top rail at forty-two inches, plus or minus three. A midrail halfway down.
• Where a guardrail can’t be used, Dave wears his harness, inspects it before each use, and ties off to an anchorage that can support at least five thousand pounds, rigged so he can’t free fall more than six feet or hit the level below.

Quick check

1. At what height must workers at an unprotected side or edge be protected from falling in construction?
2. How high must the top rail of a guardrail be?
3. When must a personal fall arrest system be inspected?

Show answers

1) 6 feet or more. 2) 42 inches, plus or minus 3 inches. 3) Before each use.

Awareness training. The certificate records completion; it is not an OSHA card or a license. Sources: 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M (eCFR). Photos: U.S. government via DVIDS (public domain): Cpl. Brendan Custer, Rachel Landers, Airman 1st Class James Bentley, Rachel Napolitan, Randy Cephus. Appearance does not imply endorsement.

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Written and reviewed by

Black Belt Safety Editorial Team

Site Safety Officer and Safety Professional

OSHA 30 · CPR · USACE CQM

Written and reviewed by the Black Belt Safety team. Every post is checked against the OSHA standard or agency source it cites.