Toolbox Talk – Gribbins Insulation – Incident Near Miss WE 06/18/2022
Date of Incident: 05/17/2022
Gribbins scaffolding crew was asked to make some modifications to existing hanging scaffolding by adding additional pans into a scaffold deck. The location of the scaffolding was approximately 30’ off the ground on the northside of the CSM Furnace Baghouse. The employee was wearing a tool belt, with 5-tools tethered to his tool belt. Employee accessed the existing scaffold to begin work, and kneeled down onto the scaffolding. As the employee kneeled down, a wrench inside of his belt was pushed up/out of his tool belt and fell out. The tether came out of the tethering tape which secured it to the tool itself. The wrench fell approximately 30’ to ground level. Fortunately, no other individuals were in the area at the time the tool fell. The crew did not have the area below barricaded.
Contributing Factors
- It was unknown to employee that the tool tether was not sufficiently secured due to tape being exposed to heat.
- Area below was not barricaded, preventing others from working under overhead work.
Corrective Preventative/Actions
- Stand down was held with crew and management to discuss incident and review corrective actions, red danger tape requirements, and proper tool inspection/verification.
- Gribbins Insulation requires danger tape shall be installed prior to erecting, modifying, or dismantling scaffolding.
- Re-training of scaffolding crew on tool inspections (specifically verifying tool tether securement-TESTING)
- Providing scaffolding crew with key ring type attachment eliminating tethering tape for specific tools.
