Risk Management Magazine

Identifying fall hazards isn’t always easy because appearances can be deceiving, often affected by our own perceptions. For example, if you’re 6 feet tall, you’re taller than a 4-foot-high platform, which makes it easy to assume the platform isn’t a fall hazard. On the other hand, if you’re standing on that platform, you are now looking down from a height of 10 feet. If you fall, even from 4 feet, you could be seriously injured.

I was driving my usual route. Since I didn’t have physical training that morning, my commute was during daylight hours, which I figured would be much safer. I had no idea what danger lay ahead.

On the way down, I reached up and grabbed onto my little yellow handholds in the crew window. Before anyone could say anything, we were on the ground. The aircraft came down and forward for a short distance, then made a rapid turn to the left.