Safety Netting: Critical Uses During Construction and Demolition

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Safety netting, also called debris netting, plays a critical safety role during building construction and demolition projects. These systems prevent injury by reducing potential hazards to those on the ground while also protecting workers from falling. However, every project is different, so what system is right for you?

What is Safety Netting?

Safety netting consists of a mesh net designed to catch falling objects, such as bricks, cinder blocks, dropped tools, and other falling debris. This debris, especially when falling from mid- to high-rise buildings, can cause serious injury or death to those on the ground.

It can also cause severe property damage to parked cars or other equipment. Construction workers and demolition personnel use these systems to ensure that bystanders and fellow crew members remain safe on the job.

Aside from the risk to ground-level personnel on construction sites, there&#;s also the concern of damage to tools. A safety net can capture equipment, protecting it from impact damage and reducing replacement costs.

Warehousing and industrial environments also use safety netting to protect workers from falling boxes, tools, and objects from conveyor belts.

Preventing Falls

When construction workers are assigned to a dangerous height task, there&#;s the unfortunate possibility that they may fall. This is a leading cause of construction worker fatalities. It&#;s also avoidable by installing certain safety systems and proper training in their use.

A safety net can save lives by catching workers who lose their balance and fall, absorbing their energy, and slowing down their descent. This is also why the distance from the safety net to the ground is so critical. If it&#;s too close to the ground, the net may not stop the fall in time.

However, if a perimeter safety net is not rated as a personal fall arrest system, the use of a lifeline or other fall-protection system may be necessary.

Vertical and Horizontal Netting Systems

Depending on the application, there are several types of safety netting that you can install on a job site. These include:

Vertical netting

Vertical netting is one of the simplest and most cost-effective debris containment systems to install. Since vertical netting is easy to install, you can relocate, remove, and store it as your needs change. Installed using a cable, consult local ordinances to determine the required height.

You can choose wire mesh with a finer series of openings per meter or foot squared if you need to. This provides increased protection against tools or other debris falling through.

Horizontal netting

Horizontal or perimeter netting can catch falling debris and workers. The primary purpose of perimeter netting is to ensure that everything from falling hand tools to stray bricks to concrete debris is caught, protecting workers and bystanders on the ground. This is also important when the construction site is near a busy street or parking lot.

Related Concerns

When determining the safety netting you need, and where you should place it, you should know certain OSHA requirements and related terminology. One of these is the work surface.

Your safety netting must be installed as close to the walking/working surface as possible. This is the work surface, whether horizontal or vertical, that personnel are standing or performing work-related duties. The safety net should not be installed more than 30 feet below a work surface if the intended use is to protect personnel. A competent person should oversee this to ensure compliance with OSHA regulations.

Guardrail Systems

Safety netting is just one safety option for your worksite. Guardrails can be an alternative or supplement to safety netting, and are available in several configurations, depending on the application.

If you need a guardrail that&#;s permanently attached, you can choose a fixed variant you can bolt, weld, or clamp to a surface. When fixed in place, the guardrail enhances safety in areas that personnel work in for protracted periods.

If you prefer the option of portability, there are also free-standing variants. Free-standing guardrails should be lightweight and comparatively simple to install, requiring no special tools. This variant enables your staff to work safely in an area as long as they need to, taking their safety equipment with them as they move on to other tasks. You may find that this type of system is more cost-effective because you can keep your equipment expenditures to a minimum.

Fall Protection Equipment

Even with safety netting, you and your personnel must still adhere to safety requirements diligently &#; this is no substitute. This includes fall protection equipment, which should be used alongside safety netting systems. An example of this would be a lifeline &#; a flexible line that you connect to a suitable anchor point. If you fall from a great height, this line arrests your vertical descent. There are also horizontal lifelines.

A horizontal lifeline is a rope or cable that attaches at two anchor points. You then attach a fall arrest system to this line.

Always wear personal protective equipment (PPE), such as hard hats, face shields, and safety goggles in hazardous work areas. Staff must wear a reflective vest or clothing with reflective stripes to ensure that they remain visible at all times.

Anchors

Another important part of a fall-arrest system is an anchorage connector. This allows construction workers to attach a lanyard, deceleration device, or lifeline to a critical anchor point to prevent a potentially deadly fall. An anchor is a permanent or temporary point to which you can attach a fall-arrest system.

Alternatively, if a worker falls, an anchor slows their descent, reducing the risk of injury or death. As with guardrails, anchor points may be temporary or permanent. A permanently installed anchor point should be made from durable, heavy-duty material for areas that workers access often. A temporary anchor point allows for portability.

Mobile anchor points increase your freedom of movement and provide increased flexibility without compromising safety. This improved maneuverability ensures that your employees can perform a variety of work-related tasks, maintaining productivity. There&#;s no reason you can&#;t be both safe and efficient &#; these principles work hand-in-hand.

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Specific Circumstances

Every construction site and demolition project is unique, and the circumstances surrounding them change frequently. As a result, the precise safety or debris netting system you need may differ considerably from one site or project to another. Consult with safety distributors and netting manufacturers to find the balance of protective measures to suit your individual circumstances. They can help you formulate a plan that&#;s right for your project.

These companies can also help you adjust your safety plan to account for elevation and project changes, so you can adapt. As your construction strategy changes or the location shifts, you should always know that your personnel will be safe, regardless of the work level.

For the maximum protection possible, both for your crew and those on the ground, consider combining a personal fall protection or arrest system, including anchor points and lifelines, with a safety netting system. This can increase the chances of your workers and any loose debris being caught promptly.

One of the best practices for the installation of safety netting is to wrap the entire building.

Final Thoughts

Safety netting plays a vital role in protecting workers and bystanders on the ground from falling debris and personnel from falling when performing work duties at high building sites. Several factors determine the type of netting that&#;s appropriate for your construction or demolition project.

At Shelving + Rack Systems, Inc., we take industrial safety seriously. Call (800) 589-, and we&#;ll help you decide what netting system suits your project best.

Falls account for nearly a third of all construction worker deaths.

Many heavy machinery and construction companies still don&#;t have adequate drop prevention programs for tools and equipment.

This may be one reason the number of falls hasn&#;t decreased in recent years. More than 42,000 people are hit by falling objects every year. That equals out to a falling-object injury every ten minutes, according to OSHA.

In other words, fall protection is a major issue, and should be one of the first priorities when it comes to protecting your site and workers.

Construction Debris Netting Saves Lives

Every time the elevation of a job increases, the risk increases, and not just for your workers, but to anyone on or near your jobsite. Even the smallest items can be fatal if they fall from high enough.

It&#;s the old &#;dropping-a-penny-off-of-the-empire-state-building&#; idea. A penny might not be big enough to do damage, but a two-pound tape measure falling from a few stories up can hit the ground with more than a thousand pounds of force per square inch.

That&#;s enough to do serious damage to whatever&#;s below, whether it&#;s valuable equipment or a person.

Safety Netting Protects Staff, Equipment, and Your Project

Workers themselves can be at risk for falls, leading to injuries or even death.

Falls also pose serious financial and legal risks. Construction companies can be held responsible for any injuries from falling debris or personnel injuries, regardless of how they happen &#; so even if you have safety mechanisms in place, if they fail, you might be liable.

Even if falls only affect your equipment, damages can still bring projects to a costly halt.

Debris and Personnel Safety Nets from Pro Tool Catch Fallen Objects of Any Weight and Size

Of course, the best protection from falling objects is to make sure they don&#;t fall in the first place. Training and safety gear also play an important role in keeping people safe.

However, it&#;s impossible to plan for every eventuality. Safety netting systems can be designed to catch personnel, debris of any size, or both, adding a crucial layer of protection for your workers, equipment, and the project itself.
At Pro Tool, we offer vertical and horizontal netting configurations in both standard off-the-shelf and customized configurations to meet your specific jobsite requirements.

Debris Netting:

We offer both honeycomb (1,000lb. rating) and heavy-duty (2,000, 5,000, and 10,000lb. rating) debris nets, with enforced border edges ideal for construction and demolition debris containment. Our debris nets are flame resistant and durable enough to stand up to the wear and tear of any site.

Personnel Safety Netting:

Our personnel safety nets help keep workers safe. Our base nets are 3.5&#; diamond nets and have a debris net liner of 1/16&#; mesh. Personnel safety nets are rated to 17,500lb. drop test load capacity, and meet all OSHA safety and fall protection netting system standards.

Save the Day with Construction Safety Netting

Dropped objects and falls in the construction industry are a major issue, but drop prevention programs using the right precautionary netting can prevent damage and save lives.

Pro Tool & Supply has custom made safety and debris netting specifically designed and fabricated for your construction job needs.

To get jobsite protection for your construction site, Request a Quote, or call us at 1-888-776- to speak with a Pro Tool & Supply representative for more information on our stock of construction grade netting equipment.