December 1, 2011

Tools at Height

By Pat McDevitt

A structure or mechanical system that requires fasteners also demands tools to maintain it properly. In power sectors such as wind, fossil fuel, and nuclear, some work areas may be several hundred feet in the air. While working at those extreme heights, or even just 10 feet off the ground, it’s simply unacceptable to drop anything. That’s why the concept of “tools at height” is being embraced as a way to improve safety and efficiency on the worksite.

Tools at height tools come with integrated safety components that are secured or tethered to prevent a falling hazard. A tool security and drop-prevention system equals superior site safety. In the wind energy industry, it’s easy to see how this is manifest when a worker drops a tool or the component of a tool. In the confined cylindrical space of a nacelle or tower, a ratchet dropped by a worker at height can do more than merely startle a worker below. It can cause severe injury or death. The reality is that a mere pound of steel ricocheting off equipment or flooring 300 feet below can create something akin to shrapnel. Dropping something that creates debris is as dangerous as actually hitting someone with an object directly from above.

And what of the time wasted when a worker forgets a tool and is forced to make “the walk of death”—an unplanned, time-sucking trip down a ladder or slow-moving elevator to pick up a wrench or screwdriver no one thought to bring on the first trip? An extra 15-minute trip here and there leads to a decline in productivity.