Federal Buildings Said Not Effective on Roof Fall Hazards

• The federal government’s GSA Public Buildings Service “is not providing adequate oversight of O&M contractors’ safety plans, lacks sufficient fall protection systems and protective equipment,” and is not ensuring facility managers receive safety training, according to a new inspector general report.
• The latest report follows up on previous findings of roof safety deficiencies and a hotline complaint to the federal facilities management agency.
• “Taken together, these deficiencies increase the risk of fall-related injury or death” for employees of GSA, of tenant agencies and of operations and maintenance contractors when they “visit or work on the roofs of the more than 1,600 buildings that GSA owns.”
• “We also found that PBS risk management surveys are not effectively identifying and resolving roof fall hazards in a timely manner,” it said, with one result being preventing contractors from “maintaining critical building equipment” such as air supply fans. Also, the PBS did not conduct the roof fall protection assessments for roof replacement projects and did not always post appropriate signage at its buildings to warn of roof fall hazards, it said.
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Maine Workers Question Adequacy of Heat Protection

• Among Maine workers, growing recognition of heat as a top occupational safety hazard, according to a Maine Public Radio report.
• Early research into Maine emergency room data shows a link between working and contracting heat illness, says Rebecca Lincoln, an environmental epidemiologist at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
• The study attempts to find out where people and what they were doing when they got sick, Lincoln said.
• A state bill in 2021 to require heat safety training and provide breaks and water for workers in high-heat environments was rejected by Maine lawmakers.
• However, even without protections, awareness of heat illness is growing, says Rod Stanley, regional director of loss control and safety services at MEMIC, Maine’s worker compensation insurance company.
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Bearing Point Creates Virtual Workplace Safety Training for Insurer

• BearingPoint is supporting insurance provider Suva in developing a state-of-the-art platform for delivering workplace safety training to more than two million workers.
• The technology consultancy is using a combination of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (XR) to create immersive training scenarios focused on high-risk tasks on construction sites.
• “Together with Suva, we are using virtual reality to deliver practical and effective workplace safety training. By combining immersive technology with real-life risk scenarios” said Matthias Roeser, Partner at BearingPoint.
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