Evaluating the effectiveness of fall prevention plan: Do we need another safety document?

Fall from height (FFH) is a major problem in the construction industry in many countries including Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the U.S. In response to the perennial problem of FFH fatalities, the Singapore Manpower Ministry enacted the Work at Heights (WAH) Regulations in 2013. The WAH Regulations requires construction worksites to develop and implement a fall prevention plan (FPP) to eliminate and mitigate risk of fall hazards. Even though the FPP is meant to be site-specific, the FPP is essentially a document that may not have an impact on the risk of WAH. To evaluate the effectiveness of FPP in reducing the risk of FFH accidents, a mixed method study involving a case study, 6 interviews, questionnaire survey and content analysis of 17 existing FPP was conducted. A total of 93 complete questionnaire survey responses were gathered. The analyses suggest that FPP was perceived as an effective intervention in reducing FFH accidents because FPP requires clear allocation of responsibilities, increases the awareness of fall hazards and highlights important fall control measures to be implemented on-site. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of the FPP is limited by issues such as failure to implement the FPP, lack of contextualization to site situations, lack of competency of frontline supervisors and workers, inadequate cooperation from sub-contractors and insufficient management commitment. The study showed that the benefits of FPP are not due to the document per se and many of the FPP documentation are already required in risk management and safety and health management systems. Thus, it is recommended that the FPP documentation be reduced significantly, while retaining key components including site-specific responsibilities, detailed risk assessment and inspection and monitoring. The study provides useful insights on the underlying issues influencing safety and health interventions which are relevant to other countries.