First, let me say that I am so sorry that your employee caused so much grief for all involved. I am rabid about seat belt use. I lost a son, who was wearing a seatbelt in a wreck. My wife was driving. She was saved by her seat belt so I am thankful for that. I was an EMT for a while and have seen people walk away from horrific accidents because they simply buckled up. Same car dead people came out of the windshield.
There is only so much you can do. If the other employee did not have the authority to fire the guy, he did everything he could do. He shouldn’t beat himself up because someone else chose to be stupid. Seconds, astounding about the Rohn anchor point strength. Have you told Rohn. I got an OSHA citation once. I went in with the whole company, set through a session where they chewed my ass for about an hour. Then another hour of training, then we were on probation for a while with periodic visits. They reduced my $25K find to $2500. The main take-away from the experience is that you need to show a “ compliant attitude”. Fall all over yourself showing them that you need to learn how to do things better and you need their help to learn better methods etc. Kiss their ass, treat them as gods, and in the process you may actually learn valuable things. But that whole showing a “broken heart and contrite spirit” thing is key to getting the fine reduced. Just lay on the floor and say “beat me master, I have sinned, please show me a better way” type of thing. From: David Sovereen Sent: Wednesday, June 6, 2018 10:10 AM To: af@afmug.com Subject: [AFMUG] Rohn 25 Hi All, A little background: We had an employee die late last year. He climbed a Rohn 25 tower at a residential customer location and did not use his fall protection gear. He went through safe climb training at CITCA, his fall protection gear was in his truck, and a co-worker with him told him to put his harness on, but he exercised poor judgement and climbed without it anyway. He slipped, fell approximately 30 feet, and was pronounced dead about an hour later at the hospital. We received two OSHA Citations today. I’ve attached them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I spoke with the OSHA representative handling our matter on Friday. He tells me that Rohn 25s have not been tested by the manufacturer to support 5,000 lbs and therefore are not a suitable anchor point for securing oneself. He says all work on Rohn 25s must be done from a lift. I think they are just trying to come up with reasons to fine us. When I went through safe tower climbing, *I* became the competent person to identify where suitable anchor points, using the 5,000 lb estimation, were. When my employees go through the training, they become competent in determining where suitable anchor points are, do they not? If an employee is given instruction on the use of fall protection gear, told to always use it, and exercises bad judgement and refuses to use it, am I responsible? One of my employees was there and told him to put his harness on and he refused. Consequently, that employee has gone through a lot of turmoil putting himself through “what if” scenarios. Just looking for thoughts on this. Fight it, and if so what approach? Pay it and make it go away? Something else? Thanks, David Sovereen Mercury Network Corporation 2719 Ashman Street, Midland, MI 48640 989.837.3790 x151 office | 888.866.4638 toll free | 989.837.3780 fax Telephone | Internet | Security Alarm Monitoring david.sover...@mercury.net www.mercury.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi All, A little background: We had an employee die late last year. He climbed a Rohn 25 tower at a residential customer location and did not use his fall protection gear. He went through safe climb training at CITCA, his fall protection gear was in his truck, and a co-worker with him told him to put his harness on, but he exercised poor judgement and climbed without it anyway. He slipped, fell approximately 30 feet, and was pronounced dead about an hour later at the hospital. We received two OSHA Citations today. I’ve attached them. I spoke with the OSHA representative handling our matter on Friday. He tells me that Rohn 25s have not been tested by the manufacturer to support 5,000 lbs and therefore are not a suitable anchor point for securing oneself. He says all work on Rohn 25s must be done from a lift. I think they are just trying to come up with reasons to fine us. When I went through safe tower climbing, *I* became the competent person to identify where suitable anchor points, using the 5,000 lb estimation, were. When my employees go through the training, they become competent in determining where suitable anchor points are, do they not? If an employee is given instruction on the use of fall protection gear, told to always use it, and exercises bad judgement and refuses to use it, am I responsible? One of my employees was there and told him to put his harness on and he refused. Consequently, that employee has gone through a lot of turmoil putting himself through “what if” scenarios. Just looking for thoughts on this. Fight it, and if so what approach? Pay it and make it go away? Something else? Thanks, David Sovereen Mercury Network Corporation 2719 Ashman Street, Midland, MI 48640 989.837.3790 x151 office | 888.866.4638 toll free | 989.837.3780 fax Telephone | Internet | Security Alarm Monitoring david.sover...@mercury.net <mailto:david.sover...@mercury.net> www.mercury.net <http://www.mercury.net/>
