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(Ed.'s Note: Folks visiting downtown Brownsville are getting used to seeing Cameron County Maintenance Dept. employees working to get the old Wells Fargo Bank Building at 835 E. Levee ready to house several county departments, including, we hear, the three existing Justices of the Peace offices now housed on Harrison St. At any one time, county employees are inside sprucing up the place, or on the roofs weatherizing them and plugging leaks. Today a crew of workers labored at the very top of the building, some 80 feet above ground. And a pedestrian with a camera who was passing by sent us this photo of a half-dozen workers laboring under the hot sun and wind without the benefit of safety harnesses. OSHA requires that workers above six feet must wear safety belt (harnesses). The height of the six-story bank building is listed at 72 feet, but once you add in the platform for the communication towers above and the fact that there is no safety rail or ledges, safety harnesses are definitely required. Below is a starter quiz for our county administrators and supervisors from the OSHA manual. At $180,000 a year paid to Administrator David Garcia, we would think it would be something he would know from top to bottom.
1. Workers in the construction industry, who are working on surfaces with unprotected sides or edges which are ______ or more above the lower level, must be protected from falls by their employer.
a. 3 feet
b. 6 feet
c. 9 feet
ANSWER: Six feet is the general rule for the Construction Industry, i.e. it’s the threshold when no specific rule applies. (No fall protection is required until 10 feet when working on scaffolds.) NOTE: Fall protection must be provided regardless of height if you’re working above sharp objects (like exposed ends of rebars for concrete) or working above dangerous equipment (that you wouldn’t want to fall into).
