What is a dropped object?

Dropped Objects can come in a variety of shapes, sizes and weights, and could fall for a diverse range of reasons. Often, Dropped Object incidents belong to one of two categories: static or dynamic.

Static Dropped Objects can include fixed objects that fall from a height without any external force being applied, often due to the effects of corrosion, poor maintenance or incorrectly installed fixtures.

Dynamic Dropped Objects fall because of external force that is applied, which may include objects falling from conveyor belts, handheld items such as hammers being dropped by personnel, or fixtures such as lights or speakers being dislodged by vibration, impact or extreme winds.

Incidents can occur from Dropped Objects where equipment damage, personnel injury or fatality is caused by an item falling from a height. These incidents threaten not only the safety of personnel but also critical equipment in the potential impact zone.

Therefore, preventing dropped objects is essential as dropped objects represent a significant threat to the safe and cost-effective operations of your site.

How do drops occur?

There can be many reasons why drops occur. Human error can be one of the most significant factors. For example, personnel that are working at a height may be at risk of dropping equipment, such as hand-held tools and if these dropped objects strike another worker below, injury or possible fatality can occur. This means that drops can have a significant impact on your company’s reputation, as well as its financial status due to the compensation and potential legal fees that may need to be paid out.

At onshore and offshore facilities, factors such as poor maintenance, harsh weather conditions, exposure to UV radiation, moving equipment, and strong vibrations may cause fixtures and structures to corrode and become loose.

Consequently, this creates a significant threat when best practice Dropped Object prevention procedures are not followed correctly. Dropped handheld tools and equipment can also pose a dangerous threat to the safety, health, and wellbeing of people onsite, potentially meaning they will be unable to work for long periods if significantly injured. This has a direct impact on your site’s productivity and ability to meet deadlines, delivering your project on budget and on time.

Additionally, there can be a dangerous risk of human error during the operation of cranes and other lifting procedures, resulting directly in Dropped Object incidents, leading to impacts with fixtures and equipment that may fall. Therefore, the importance of dropped object prevention procedures and equipment cannot be overstated.

How can we help?

To help you tackle the dangers of dropped objects and prevent them from falling, we can help you to create a safely plan for your site based on your unique requirements. This can involve helping you to understand your legal requirements and obligations, investigating the facts and figures for your industry, assessing the potential risks on your site and to your personnel, fully-documenting your tool inventory, and rolling out training programs to facilitate and reinforce your safety plan. We also offer dropped hazard sweep services.

For more information about our dropped object prevention services, please feel free to get in touch with our friendly team of professional experts today who will be more than happy to help you with your query or to give you a free no-obligation quote.

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