Facility Safety Management

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Engineered Solution
Fold-Away Fall Protection For Temporary Installations

The 2006 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary shows an alarming 5 percent increase in occupational fatalities related to falls. This translated into the third highest number of fall related deaths since the inception of the OSHA Census in the early 1990s.

These numbers prove that despite known risks, public and privately owned companies continue to put their employees at risk by asking them to work at dangerous heights, and on or over dangerous machinery without proper fall protection.

Recognizing the serious safety deficiencies existing in their industries, end users have turned to customized engineered personal fall protection systems that accommodate their unique needs while maintaining the security of their employees.

To this end, SPANCO, Inc. introduced the Fold-Away Fall Protection System. Engineering of this system started when end-users expressed interest in a fall protection system that did not require permanent installation, one that had some mobility.

Many end-users complained that a permanent structure would interfere with their work processes by being in the way of large overhead cranes.

Traditional wire rope systems were also not an option due to low clearance and other design deficiencies like greater free fall distance.

A few months ago, a process engineer and plant safety manager for a small powered transformer facility in the South identified a serious safety deficiency in their production process. Inside their facility, transformers were being manufactured through a series of production stations. During the production process, large transformer shells measuring anywhere from 10 to 18 feet in height, were transported via rail or crane to the individual stations. Once at the stations, workers needed to climb on top of the shells in order to insert coils, gauges, and other transformer components. This process of climbing on top of the shells was extremely dangerous due to the height of the transformers.

After evaluating their need, the process engineer and safety manager contacted ITAC, a member of the SPANCO distribution network. It was explained that the company needed a system that could provide low clearance fall protection to their workers while they climbed on top of the transformer shells, but that the system could not interfere with the overhead crane that was used to move the shells from station to station.

After listening to the situation and doing an onsite evaluation, Industrial Turn-Around Corporation (ITAC) fall protection engineer Bruce Simms immediately recognized that the new SPANCO Fold-Away Fall Protection system was a perfect fit.

Simms brought the project to SPANCO Vice-President, George Nolan, who helped design a custom fold-away system that interfaced with the company’s current warehouse columns and conduit. The resulting system was comprised of two 40-foot spans of continuous dual steel track that was under hung on steel jibs that measured 15 feet off the warehouse column when the system was fully extended.

When folded in against the columns, the system protruded only one foot off the columns, providing room for the overhead crane to work as usual. The system can be manually moved and locked into place at varying degrees.

Another great feature of the system is the dual track that allows for two workers to work on top of the transformers and walk along opposite sides and pass each other without needing to disconnect from the trolley.

After a few months of use the company’s plant safety manager is thrilled with the integration of the system. In fact orders are currently being placed for another similar system in another part of the plant.

Plant engineers or safety managers may not realize the potential of custom fall protection solutions that are available to their industry or company. When a production hazard has been identified in your workflow, you may want to explore customized fall protection solutions.

SPANCO engineers have customized fall protection systems for use with gantry cranes, free standing jib cranes, and lightweight enclosed track bridge crane applications where a dual axis allows for a worker to operate from front to back, and left to right.

Every end-user application is unique, and that is why fall protection solutions must be custom, not canned compliance. FSM