Falls from height during the floor slab formwork of buildings: current situation in Spain.
OBJECTIVE
One of the phases with the highest risk of falls from a height in the construction of a building is during the floor slab formwork stage. This paper analyzes this particular risk, as well as the most frequently used fall-protection systems.


METHODS
A survey was carried out to define the current situation in Spain with regard to falls from a height during floor slab formwork and the fall-protection systems used to prevent such a risk.


RESULTS
The results of the survey clarified the current situation in Spain with regard to this risk, and made it clear that there is considerable risk of falling from a height during the floor slab formwork stage.


CONCLUSIONS
All the safety systems analyzed presented a series of weak points that should be studied in detail before they can be used on building sites.


CONCLUSIONS
The risk of falling associated with floor slab formwork and the most frequently used protection systems are analyzed. As no research had been carried out to date on this type of risk, we consider the research presented in this article to be a pioneer in the field.
ICITECH, Departamento de Ingeniería de la Construcción y Proyectos de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera s/n, 46071 Valencia, Spain. joadmar@cst.upv.es
Jose M
JM
Adam
Francisco J
FJ
Pallarés
Pedro A
PA
Calderón
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003252:Construction Materials; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007221:Industry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011482:Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain