My Personal Story about Fall Protection

I work for Hy-Safe Technology in the marketing department. Here at Hy-Safe, we heavily promote fall protection. We believe in it and genuinely believe our systems and equipment can save lives. Someone once told me that to market a product effectively you must be passionate. You must believe in what you're marketing. Whether you're marketing or selling shoes, pencils or in my case fall protection- passion is what drives you. Its what makes you get up every morning and act to make a difference. Passion has the potential to turn into something powerful when it becomes your job. Now more than ever do I believe this. This is my story...

During a normal work week I have various duties and tasks that I must complete. One of my responsibilities has been to bring awareness and stress the importance of safety, particularly fall protection, in the general and construction industry. I receive news alerts and post them up on this blog and on our Twitter account. Some of you may know our user name "FallNoMore." I like to think that I have developed "virtual" relationships with people in the industry that also heavily believe in safety in the workplace. Everyday I post articles and links that discuss the importance of work safety but I also post accidents where a worker is hurt or even killed due to the lack of safety in their workplace. This has developed into an everyday task for me. This week this task took a different turn- it became more personal.

Earlier this week we received news my uncle was in the intensive care unit (ICU)- he was in critical condition. We were told internal bleeding was possible. We were also told his face was "unrecognizable" due to the accident. You can imagine what goes through your head when you're told that a close family member is in critical condition. Every question you have about his well being is answered the same way "We don't know yet" or "It's just too early to tell." Your mind enters a stage where every thought that enters your head begins with "What if..."

Before we were told about his condition- we were told the cause of the accident. I was informed that my uncle had fallen off the roof of a two story house at work while pressure washing it. He had broken his pelvis in three different places, his rib was broken and his hand and cheekbone were shattered. When I heard the news my heart dropped. Working at a fall protection company my first thoughts consisted of "Was there fall protection?" "Was he tied off?" "Did he have his harness on?" "Had his employer invested in safety?" The answer to all these questions was "No." There was no fall protection, no harnesses, no lanyards...nothing. My mind raced. More than anybody in my family I knew the statistics. I knew that a lot of the times it took miracles for workers not to die from a fall and that most falls end fatally.

Three days after the accident, my uncle remains in the ICU with no set date of leaving the hospital. We still don't know if he'll eventually regain all his movement. He has undergone a major surgery and more surgeries are set for these upcoming days. Being the bread winner of their home and with no health insurance my family is worried. How will the rent be paid? How will my little cousins eat? Only through prayers and faith has my family been able to go through the week.

I don't write this post to receive pity from my readers. I write it to encourage you to strive to be safe at work. Upper management and supervisors must never forget that their workers have families to go home to. Paying for safety equipment, such as fall protection, may seem unnecessary or too big of a bill but it's truly an investment. It's worth going through the "hassle" of donning your harness or putting on your hard hat or any other safety equipment. Never think that "It won't happen to me" or "I'm in too big of a hurry" because unfortunately it can happen.

Don't make the same mistake I did where safety became an everyday task. My "tweets" and postings have now taken on a whole different meaning. My drive and passion to market workplace safety and fall protection has now doubled. I encourage you to take safety personally. God bless and be safe.