The Dropped Object Experiment | Black & Veatch Safety Awareness

Black & Veatch places the highest importance on the safety of our professionals, clients and business partners. In honor of Safety Week 2016, B&V Environmental, Safety, Health & Security (ESH&S) team decided to show the impact of falling objects, emphasizing the value of engineering controls such as tool tethering and hazard prevention planning, as well as barricades, safety nets and PPE (personal protective equipment). Protect your melon! #SafetyWeek

Transcript
Dropped A DROPPED OBJECTs can be a real headacheIS MORE THAN JUST INCONVENIENT... however, on site thoseDROPPED OBJECTS CAN BECOME DEADLY IN AN INSTANT. TODAY WE are going to EXAMINE WHAT CAN HAPPEN TO A PERSON’S HEADs WHEN OBJECTS ARE DROPPED. at different heights and weights - with and without the proper safety gear. THE RESULTS MAY...BLOW YOUR MIND.

WE WILL DROP THREE OBJECTS OF VARIOUS WEIGHTS, FROM A HEIGHT OF 30 FEET, WITH AND WITHOUT PROPER PROTECTIVE ionGEAR, ON OUR UNSUSPECTING WATERMELONS.
At Black & Veatch we take safety seriously. To make sure the experiment is in a controlled environment the team has constructed a safety cage around our unsuspecting watermelons and a tube to ensure a controlled path for the dropped objects, and as always the right personal protection equipment.

OUR FIRST OBJECT TO DROP IS A STRUCTURAL BOLT. FALLING FROM 30 FEET, THE ONE POUND BOLT WILL HAVE AN IMPACT OF ALMOST 3,000 POUNDS OF FORCE

“Alright, ready to start? Clear? We’re good. Three, two, one…”

“We dropped a one-pound bolt and you can see it basically sheared off the watermelon’s face”

NOW WITH A HARD HAT.

“Three, two, one, dropping. Whoa! Sounded like a gunshot!”

“Hey, look at that. We’ve got some damage here where his neck would be.”

THE NEXT OBJECT TO DROP IS A 4-LB SLEDGE HAMMER. FROM A HEIGHT OF 30 FEET, IT WILL NOW HAVE AN IMPACT OF AROUND 11,500 POUNDS OF FORCE

“Three, two, one, dropping… Wow!”

“I mean, look at all the guts that came out, or all the brain matter. You can’t pick it all up!”

SAME SLEDGE, SAME HEIGHT, NOW WITH THE PROTECTION OF A HARD HAT.

“Three, two, one… Whoa! Would you look at that! That sound really sends chills to my bones”

“Minor scuffs and everything on the outside of the melon, but the back side, split up the middle. And the support, the neck pushed all the way up. And you can see here the deflection, the sledge bigger surface area so the hard hat, lots of gooey skin in there.”

THE FINAL OBJECT TO DROP IS A PIPE WRENCH. AT 6-LBS, FROM A HEIGHT OF 30 FEET, IT WILL HAVE AN IMPACT OF ALMOST 17,500 POUNDS OF FORCE

“Three, two, one, drop. Look how clean that cut is.”

“Front side looks good, not so much on the back. The wrench, even though it’s heavier hasn’t been doing as much damage. It must be the shape of the tool. It’s still going to do something to someone. The sledge hammer has a bigger circumference.”

AGAIN WITH A HARD HAT

“Wow. That hit dead center.”

“Oh, lots of brain mush. This is actually almost an inch deflection in the top and then if you flip it over in the suspension, you can see it’s completely covered in matter. No amount of PPE (personal protective equipment) that you’d use in this situation would help. That’s why we have engineering controls. PPE, last line of defense.”

“How many thousands of these do we put up on a project? Think about our other projects, we’re going 100 feet up. It makes the requirements for cause everything is a little inconvenient at times but this really strikes home just why that stuff is so important, and work place cleanliness is a critical factor in safety”
“Absolutely”

“Don’t be like this melon. Protect your melon.”