Fall protection plan for your job site, in English and Spanish

Free fall protection plan template

A blank site-specific fall protection plan on two letter pages, with English and Spanish on the same form: who prepared it and who the competent person is, a checklist of fall hazards, a table of where workers could fall and how each spot is protected, the protection methods used, equipment and anchors, set-up and take-down, materials, rescue, the alternative plan for when conventional protection can't be used, and changes. The last page is the crew's training record.

Edit it in Word: English + Español · English · Español

What a fall protection plan includes

A fall protection plan is the written plan, kept on the job site, of where workers could fall on that job and how the company protects them. A good one is specific: it names the roof edges, openings and ladders on this site rather than repeating a company policy. Most plans cover these parts:

Does OSHA require a written fall protection plan?

Not for every job. Federal OSHA requires the protection itself: workers on construction surfaces with an unprotected side or edge 6 feet or more above a lower level must be protected by guardrails, safety nets or personal fall arrest (29 CFR 1926.501), and every worker who might be exposed to fall hazards must be trained, with a written certification record of that training (29 CFR 1926.503).

A written plan becomes a requirement in these cases:

• The alternative plan in 29 CFR 1926.502(k). In leading edge work, precast concrete erection or residential construction, an employer that can show conventional fall protection is infeasible or creates a greater hazard may use a written, site-specific plan instead (more below).
• Washington State. Employers must develop and implement a written fall protection work plan covering each area where fall hazards of 10 feet or more exist, available on the job site for inspection (WAC 296-880-10020, on L&I's fall protection work plan form).
• Your contract. General contractors, owners and insurers often ask each subcontractor for a site-specific fall protection plan before work starts, alongside a site-specific safety plan.

Even where no rule requires one, a written plan is how you show that the protection, the rescue and the training were thought through before anyone went up.

At what height is fall protection required?

Some work has its own rules, such as ladders, aerial lifts, steel erection and excavation edges, so check the section for the equipment you use. The generator adds the ladder, scaffold or lift sections when your work mentions them.

The fall protection plan in 29 CFR 1926.502(k)

When people say OSHA "allows a fall protection plan", they mean this option. It is available only to employees doing leading edge work, precast concrete erection or residential construction, and only where the employer can demonstrate that guardrails, safety nets and personal fall arrest are infeasible or create a greater hazard. The standard presumes they are feasible, and OSHA's residential construction directive (STD 03-11-002) enforces conventional fall protection in residential work. The plan must:

• be prepared by a qualified person, specifically for the site, and kept up to date, with changes approved by a qualified person;
• be kept at the job site and carried out under the supervision of a competent person;
• explain why conventional fall protection is infeasible or would create a greater hazard;
• discuss the other measures that reduce the hazard, such as scaffolds, ladders or vehicle-mounted platforms;
• identify each location where conventional protection can't be used, as a controlled access zone;
• use a safety monitoring system where no other measure is in place;
• name the employees designated to work in those zones, and no one else may enter;
• be reviewed after a fall or a near miss, with changes made to prevent a repeat.

OSHA publishes a sample residential fall protection plan. In the generator, fill in "Where guardrails, nets or harnesses can't be used, and why" only when this applies; the plan then adds the section with your reasons, the controlled access zones and the safety monitor. It never invents the reasons.

The rescue plan

The employer must provide for prompt rescue of a worker who falls, or make sure workers can rescue themselves (29 CFR 1926.502(d)(20)). Calling 911 isn't a rescue plan on its own: responders may not reach a worker hanging from a roof edge quickly. A useful rescue section says how a fallen worker would be reached on this job (a ladder, a lift, a rescue kit), where that equipment is, who is trained to use it, and what the crew does while help comes. The template has space for each, and the generator writes it for your work and equipment.

How to use the fall protection plan generator

1. Describe the work at height the way the job does: "Tear off and re-shingle a two-story house, then replace two skylights" beats "roofing".
2. Add the heights and conditions: eave and ridge heights, roof pitch, openings, what's below the work.
3. Read the plan in English and Spanish, then save it to a free account to add the names, the hospital and the rescue crew, print it, and have the crew sign that they were trained on it.

In your account the form also takes the fall hazard checklist, the equipment and anchors, the qualified and competent persons, and the workers designated for controlled access zones. Names and phone numbers are printed as you type them and never sent to the AI.

How it stays accurate

Every plan is written from the full text of OSHA's fall protection rules, 1926.501 to 1926.503, plus the ladder, scaffold or aerial lift sections your work calls for, taken from eCFR. The plan may only state a height, strength or distance that appears in that text or in what you entered, and it lists the sections it relies on. It is still a draft for your qualified or competent person to check against the site.

Training record and crew sign-off

Subpart M requires a written certification record for fall protection training: the name of each employee trained, the date of the training and the signature of the person who trained them or of the employer (29 CFR 1926.503(b)). Every plan ends with a training record laid out that way. Workers can sign it on paper or scan its QR code and sign on their phones after reading the plan in English or Spanish, and the record stays in your account with the plan.

For the weekly reminders, use the fall protection toolbox talk, the personal fall arrest talk and the ladder safety talk, or see the roofing JHA example.

Questions

Sources: 29 CFR 1926.501; 29 CFR 1926.502; 29 CFR 1926.503; 29 CFR 1926.451; 29 CFR 1910.28; OSHA directive STD 03-11-002; Washington L&I form F417-272-000.