Aircraft Maintenance Fall Protection - MRO shops are increasingly adopting cantilever structures made of ultra-light, super-tough materials. These devices allow the airplane mechanic to reach the desired height while safely working around the skids, engines and body of the aircraft. These positions MRO professionals within arm's reach of their work without having to use a ladder.
Among the new aircraft tech innovations in the fall safety industry are retractable restraints which quickly pull in a mechanic who falls. They're like seatbelts that are triggered to retract. That's important, because a worker hanging from a harness can swing at wide degrees, harming himself and/or the aircraft.
Aircraft Maintenance Fall Protection
New models of railings and lifts feature embedded retractable safety lines. Lighthouse Safety provides equipment, training and installation for fall protection and confinement systems. Customers include Gulfstream, Duncan Aviation, Caterpillar, American Airlines, and Wisconsin Energy. According to Corriveau, the overall trend when it comes to falls in the workplace, especially in aviation, is not good.
Fall Protection Fall Arrest Systems For Aircraft Aerospace Applications
John trains both in the U.S. and abroad and is a member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z359 committee that has spent the last few years updating the ANSI standards for fall protection. He works closely with aircraft mechanics, soliciting feedback for use in the design of new products.
Tritech Fall Protection Systems™ offers a range of OSHA and CSA compliant fall protection solutions, ranging from single point anchors to horizontal lifelines. Systems are designed to enable the most efficient work procedures and give complete access to the aircraft's fuselage, wings and tail dock.
He's a contract trainer for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at the OSHA Training Institute in Arlington Heights, Ill., and for the U.S. Air Force. He lives and breathes aircraft maintenance safety issues.
"In fact, the lack of proper fall safety procedures is a dirty little secret in the MRO world," Kleinhans says. “You see, aircraft operators and MRO shops tend to like a nice, shiny light-gray hangar floor, because it highlights the aircraft and makes it more beautiful.
Welcome To Diversified Fall Protection
They're setting up a showroom, but they don't realize that they're also setting up potential tragedy.” “Provide marked walkways, in yellow-and-black barber pole markings, for foot traffic,” he counsels. “Put walkways over cables and wires. Put some grit in those floors.
High-tech aggregates are available that you can put into a floor that still looks nice, but they provide friction.” Many aviation mechanics remain unaware of the deadly hazards in the MRO work environment. One of the most underestimated threats to life, limb and aircraft is the physical act of falling.
It's a key vulnerability in aircraft maintenance safety. “Aviation mechanics get complacent,” Corriveau says. "They sometimes don't clean up their messes off the floor. And when they think the height at which they're working isn't very high, they'll mistakenly assume they don't need to take precautions.
But a worker only has a 50-50 chance of surviving a fall of 15-30 feet.” Corriveau points out that human reaction time for any stimuli is about .67 seconds. "In that amount of time, a mechanic would fall about seven feet, which means the engine or railing he or she expected to grab if they slipped and fell would be seven feet above them in less than a second," he says.
Welcome To Diversified Fall Protection
Customizable tool trays attached to railings also make trips up and down a lift or ladder unnecessary, further reducing the odds of a fall. Prevalent fall safety equipment also includes structural steel mezzanine platforms, manual and automated vertical lifts, and rideable material lifts.
Suction anchors attached to retractable cords also cut down the incidence of falls and improve aircraft hangar safety. Corriveau says: “As much as possible, get rid of ladders and replace them with lifts and aerospace platforms.
It's one of the easiest but most effective preventive steps an aviation company can take to improve aircraft hangar safety. Compel mechanics to conduct work from lifts and from platforms. Too many ladders are being used and not enough working platforms.”
Falls are among the most common causes of serious work related injuries and deaths, particularly in aviation maintenance. Prudent employers must incorporate procedures and equipment to prevent mechanics from falling off elevated work stations, overhead platforms, or even holes in floors and walls.
Slipping on floors is another hazard. In addition to aerospace manufacturing, routine maintenance and testing exposes technicians to workplace fall hazards which require proper safety solutions. Productivity and safety are never mutually exclusive in an aerospace facility and with the proper fall protection systems in place, both can coexist.
Providing a safe production environment for contractors, technicians, and maintenance staff working on aircraft wings and fuselages requires the implementation of a comprehensive fall prevention strategy, which includes the proper mix of fall protection equipment, personnel training, and partnering with a fall protection company that
appreciates the unique nature of your facilities access points and potential fall hazards. Corriveau says fall-related accidents have been the number one citation against companies from OSHA for the last five years. He says aviation maintenance, with its complexity and multitude of tools and machinery, is a breeding ground for falls.
We are a complete turnkey provider of aerospace fall protection systems and have years of design and installation experience in this broad based market sector. Contact us for expert assistance with your fall arrest, fall restraint and fall protection requirements.
We're happy to have you here. When you work with DFP, you can expect the same level of high-quality systems, solutions and service you've come to expect from Peak Fall Protection. On our website, you will find industry-leading fall protection systems and educational resources to help support your workplace safety.
We look forward to partnering together on your next project. "We find that safety really depends on following the OSHA codes for ladders, platforms, and other equipment," Heap says. “OSHA looks for consistency in the height and depth of steps, for example.
When you get into aviation manufacturing, we see customized codes for unusual situations, which requires extra vigilance because these codes are exceptions.” Providing versatile, easy to install safe access to walkways and platforms is the first step in protecting employees who work at height.
Access solutions for work platforms provide a safe means to access work areas at heights and increase productivity. When it comes to aircraft maintenance safety, Corriveau knows what he's talking about. He's a fall protection and confined space specialist for a wide variety of industries, with over three decades of experience working with fall safety equipment.
We're happy to have you here. When you work with DFP, you can expect the same level of high-quality systems, solutions and service you've come to expect from Fall Protection Systems. On our website, you will find industry-leading fall protection systems and educational resources to help support your workplace safety.
We look forward to partnering together on your next project. When it comes to safety cords, John Corriveau at Lighthouse cites the basics: anchorage, or the secure point of attachment that supports the entire weight of the system;
body harness, which is personal protection worn by workers performing the job; and a connecting device (such as lanyards and rope grabs), which attach a harness to an anchor point.
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