The Dropped Object Experiment

Summary Statement

As part of their Safety Week 2016, Black and Veatch's 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. This eye-opening video shows the danger of dropped objects and the protection afforded by hard hats. The ESH&S staff dropped 3 different objects - a structural bolt, a sledge hammer and a pipe wrench - 30 feet onto watermelons with and without hard hats. The six-pound pipe wrench, for instance, reached 17,500 pounds of force at the end of the 30 foot fall, too much for a hard hat to prevent significant injury to a worker.
May 2, 2016