The competent person for fall protection in a construction environment is responsible for ensuring that all fall protection systems are installed and maintained properly to prevent workers from falling from heights. Therefore, it is critical that employers ensure adequate fall protection training for the competent person at construction sites.
According to 1926 Subpart M of the OSHA construction standards, the various duties the competent person for fall protection in a construction environment must be trained in include:
- How to Identify and Evaluate Fall Hazards: The competent person for fall protection should be able to identify any potential fall hazards that may exist on a construction site and take appropriate steps to address them. This includes conducting a thorough site analysis to determine the locations where workers may be exposed to fall hazards. Once the fall hazards are identified, the competent person should evaluate them and determine the appropriate type of fall protection system that is required to protect their workers. This may include personal fall arrest systems, guardrails, safety nets, covers, or other systems.
- How to Oversee Installation of Fall Protection Systems: The competent person for fall protection must ensure fall protection systems and equipment comply with OSHA regulations. This includes ensuring that the systems are properly installed and maintained to provide adequate protection for their workers.
- How and When to Conduct Regular Inspections: The competent person should conduct regular inspections of all fall protection systems and equipment to ensure that they are functioning properly and remain in good condition. The competent person for fall prevention should also address any deficiencies or defects identified in the systems.
Competent Person Certification for Fall Protection Training
All training of the designated competent person for confined space entry operations at construction site must be certified by the employer, per OSHA regulations. And the fall protection training certification records must be available for inspection by an OSHA compliance officer during compliance inspections.
On Site Fall Protection Competent Person Training Class
Have a professional OSHA trainer conduct an on-site one-day fall protection for the competent person training class for a group of eight (8) or more employees at your site. The trainer can incorporate specific information about your organization’s fall prevention plan upon request.
Training for each student in our fall protection competent person class is certified on a course sign-in sheet. Plus, each student receives a personalized certificate of completion meeting OSHA requirements for certified training for the competent person for fall protection at construction sites.
Online Fall Protection Competent Person Training Course
Take our comprehensive online fall protection training course for the competent person, based on the OSHA 1926 subpart M construction requirements. Ideal for students needing their training certification ASAP. The main advantages of taking the online competent person for fall protection training course are 1) there is no need to have a large group, as each student registers for their own course; 2) once registered, the student can log in and out of their fall protection course whenever they wish, training as time allows; and, 3) the course is very inexpensive, costing just $89 (discounts are automatically applied with purchase of 5 or more courses).
This 8-hour fall protection training course for the competent person is broken into several training modules that reflect the same information covered in onsite classes. Each module ends with a quiz consisting of a few multiple choice or true/false questions about what was just covered, and students get three attempts to pass the quizzes; if they fail to the module is repeated and the student can take the quiz again. The final exam for the course is set up the same way.
Upon successful completion of their course, the student (or their employer) can log in and print the student’s personalized certification of fall protection training for the competent person.
The course takes approximately 8 hours to complete, and the tuition is just $89.