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>> Falls are the number one cause of fatalities
in New York City, and this has been the trend
since I've been the area director for the past ten years.
>> New York City has some of the most complex
and large scale projects.
There's a lot of projects that are very unique,
just in the scale, the amount of work,
the hazards that are associated.
There's not a lot of room here in New York City
and there's not a lot of time.
So that's one of the issues that a lot of the work sites face.
>> We recently had a fatality.
It involved three workers in a construction site.
These three workers were working
on a platform inside an elevator shaft
of a construction building here in Manhattan on the ninth floor.
The platform malfunctioned somehow.
Two of the workers were tied off.
They had fall protection.
One did not.
When the platform malfunctioned, they all fell.
The two that had their harnesses on and were tied off,
they were suspended in air.
They survived.
The one that did not have a fall protection on -- he did not.
He fell approximately 90 feet to the ground.
It's a clear case that if you were wearing your fall
protection, you would survive.
And the one that did not wear it, it's a tragic story.
And that is the difficult part of my job that I have
when these fatalities occur,
that I have to call the deceased's family, next of kin,
and I have to speak to them and I have to talk to them
about why their loved one died, how they died,
and that all this could have been preventable
if he had worn a harness.
>> What we always do is encourage workers
to really take safety and health as their own initiative.
Know their rights, know how to exercise those rights,
and take responsibility for the work they do.
If there is an issue, they always have the ability
to call us and that's essentially what we want to do.
We want to get to as many places as we can,
and we want to also talk about preventing hazards.
I think it's a very different discussion that we have
after the fact when something has already taken place
than before, when we can prevent something from happening.
And we're always willing to have that discussion.
>> OSHA has an initiative campaign that we started back
in 2012, partnering with NIOSH and the Center
for Construction Training and Research, in which we partnered
to have construction companies set aside time
to spread the word to their employees
to different companies, subcontractors,
in trying to prevent and save lives on falls.
>> Since the inception of the Stand Down,
we've seen the interest from the employers significantly grow.
Companies have really taken the initiative on their own.
They're developing company-wide campaigns where they'll go
into each and every one of their locations.
They've also helped us to something
that we have historically had a challenge with,
and that's reach the smaller employers,
the smaller contractors,
the ones where there might be employees
that speak different languages.
So that's really helpful on our side, because those are the ones
that unfortunately are the most impacted by falls
in construction and those are the ones
that we have had a difficult time reaching.
So we have to come up with creative ways of reaching them
and one of the ways we do so is
through the Safety Standout Campaign.
>> In New York City, there is a diverse population.
I'm very lucky to have a staff that speak multi languages
and can communicate with the workers.
They speak Spanish, Chinese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Polish,
French for Haitian communities, and they're able
to reach those populations, go out in the workplace,
communicate with them, explain to them the hazards
that they're working with, how to protect themselves.
We've also reached out to community-based organizations,
faith-based organizations,
the various consulates here in New York City.
They are organizations that are able to reach those communities
who are fearful of OSHA, who don't understand how we work.
So by reaching out to those organizations,
they're our liaison, they're our connection to these people
who would be more comfortable in talking to these organizations
and they are able to connect us to them.
>> Our goal is to reach as many of the smaller contractors
as we can and talk to them directly, talk to them frankly
about what are the hazards that they're occurring and talk
to them about preventing fall hazards, not just talking
about what happens after, but talking about what are some
of the things that they can do to prevent falls.
And that's really the goal of the entire campaign.
>> By having the Stand Down, I think it has a ripple effect
from peer to peer, not just the employer to the worker,
but also their own coworkers if they haven't attended the event,
I'm sure it's discussed and they take away some
of the discussions, the questions, the answers,
and they have an exchange with their coworkers.
So I think any way to spread the word is a benefit.
>> We've definitely gotten very positive feedback
about how this has impacted them in their work life,
as well as outside of their work life.
After the previous Stand Down last year,
we asked for feedback, and a lot
of the workers are very enthusiastic
about the fall campaign.
It gives them the opportunity not only to talk
about their concerns about safety and health,
but they have ideas also about the hazards
and how it can be stemmed, how to prevent them.
So it gives them the opportunity to voice their opinions.
It gives them a little responsibility
or accountability on their lives.
>> A lot of contractors that do participate one year,
then the next year they may be at another construction site
where that might not be accessible,
so they take their own initiative.
Sometimes they do it during their lunch break,
sometimes they'll go just outside after work and talk
about falls in construction.
So I think it allows us to really plant a positive seed
in the mindset of employees to really take this and roll
with it and make it more of a cultural issue for them.
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