Fall accidents remain one of the leading causes of injuries in many industries. In construction, 21% of all lost-time injury claims in 2020-21 were due to falls, according to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board data.

While many organizations have started to use robotic and autonomous devices to reduce the need for work at heights, this approach is not always possible or feasible.
Management of work at heights, proper fall protection equipment, rescue procedures, and adequate training are critical components of occupational health and safety practices and procedures organizations need to implement in order to protect their workers. CSA Group’s suite of fall protection standards offers organizations a robust toolkit they can leverage to better protect their workers.

New Standard for management of work at heights
How to select and use fall protection equipment and systems
Helping your team gain skills and knowledge to perform work at heights

New Standard for management of work at heights

The recently published standard CSA Z1009:22, Management of work at heights, provides an overview of steps organizations need to take to establish and maintain an effective work at heights (WAH) management program. It encourages a preventative approach, bringing work tasks to a safer ground level whenever possible, and sets requirements and recommendations for developing detailed WAH plans, work procedures, and training programs that outline roles and responsibilities at all levels of the organization.

How to select and use fall protection equipment and systems

The first standard of its kind, CSA Z259.17:21, Selection and use of active fall-protection equipment and systems, helps address the lack of consistency on how to select, care for, and use active fall-protection equipment and systems. It provides information, methods, and criteria to assess how equipment and assembled systems behave and how solutions should be selected and implemented, considering the type of work, frequency of access, knowledge and skills of workers, and other factors.

Helping your team gain skills and knowledge to perform work at heights

CSA Z259.19:22, Managed fall protection training, a new standard published in 2022, guides organizations through the development and implementation of training programs aimed at improving workers’ safety. Complementing the standard for selection and use of fall-protection equipment, CSA Z259.19:22 underlines the need to identify organization’s specific fall hazards and risks in order to determine training objectives, content, and requirements that meet the needs of workers and employees being trained.

These standards are just a few latest additions to a suite of CSA standards focused on fall protection and workers’ safety. Learn more about CSA standards that can help protect your workers.