July 17, 2018
A standard aimed at helping employers reduce the risk of dropped objects incidents in industrial and occupational settings has been approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
Developed by the ANSI and the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA), ANSI/ISEA 121-2018, American National Standard for Dropped Object Prevention Solutions establishes minimum design, performance, and labeling requirements for solutions and testing that mitigate this hazard.
Dropped object deaths, injuries on the rise
The standard comes in response to the thousands of workers each year in the U.S. who are injured — and the hundreds who die — from being struck by a falling object, such as hand tools, instrumentation, small parts, structural components and other items that have to be transferred and used at heights. In 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there were 255 fatalities and 47,920 reported injuries from dropped objects