Introduction
Among the many hazards on a turnaround, few are as underestimated as dropped objects. They don’t make headlines like fires or explosions, but they remain one of the leading causes of recordable injuries, near misses, and even fatalities in our industry.
I’ve seen it firsthand: tools left unsecured on scaffolds, bolts knocked loose during flange work, rigging hardware shaken free from vibration. Each of these situations could have led to a serious incident. And yet, every one of them was preventable with simple controls.
The Problem: A Common but Deadly Hazard
Dropped objects are deceptively simple hazards:
A wrench slips from a 40-foot scaffold.
A loose nut vibrates off a flange connection during disassembly.
A tape measure falls from a pocket while climbing.
Each seems minor until you calculate the force of impact. A 2-lb tool dropped from 40 feet can strike with the force of a small car accident. Even a cell phone dropped from waist height can cause injury.
On large turnarounds across multiple plants or plant sites, with thousands of people and dense workspaces, the probability of dropped object incidents climbs steeply. Congested scaffolds, multiple crafts working simultaneously, and constant movement and management of materials create the perfect environment for mistakes.
The consequences of dropped objects can be severe, sometimes leading to unplanned shutdowns that disrupt operations and increase costs.
The problem isn’t that crews don’t care about safety; it’s that without standardized controls, people rely on habits, and habits under pressure often fail.
Damaged equipment: Dropped objects can damage critical equipment, often requiring immediate repairs to restore functionality.
The Impact: Why It Matters
The cost of dropped object incidents goes beyond injuries:
Work stoppages. A serious near miss halts entire crews while safety reviews take place. Even minor injuries trigger investigations, reporting, and downtime.
Damaged equipment. Falling objects can puncture exchangers, dent piping, or damage rotating equipment, adding cost and delay.
Extra costs. These incidents often result in extra costs beyond immediate repairs, including unplanned procurement, rescheduling, and additional labor.
Extended duration. Incidents can extend the duration of turnaround activities, sometimes by weeks, impacting the overall schedule and planned milestones.
Extent of impact. The extent of a single incident can affect the entire operation, disrupting workflows and requiring re-coordination across teams.
Culture erosion. Nothing undermines morale like seeing a coworker injured by something everyone knows was preventable.
In one turnaround in 2019, a single cap screw dropped a few hundred feet from an elevated platform (for the second time within 24 hours). This caused a full area shutdown, lost half a day’s work, and rattled confidence in the site’s safety culture. The cost in productivity and trust was far higher than the object itself was worth. All related tasks had to be completed before resuming adjacent operations, and delays in completing work orders directly impacted the operation and extended the turnaround duration.
Dropped object incidents can disrupt scheduled and planned activities, forcing the team to advance or reschedule certain tasks to maintain progress. This highlights the importance of thorough preparation, strong coordination, and a clear focus on prevention. The team must remain responsible and committed to safety, leveraging the company's capabilities, expertise, and engineering controls to minimize risk and ensure proper executing of procedures. Such incidents not only increase risk but can also impact clients and the service provided to them, making prevention a top priority for any company involved in turnaround operations.
What Works: Proven Dropped Object Safety Controls
The good news is that dropped objects are almost entirely preventable with simple, disciplined measures. Effective preparation and coordination are essential in implementing dropped object controls, ensuring all processes are followed and risks are minimized. Maintaining a strong focus on prevention and providing a reliable service for a safe work environment are key priorities.
Tool Tethering
Require all hand tools used at elevation to be tethered with lanyards, tool belts, or holsters, ensuring the procurement of specialized tool tethering equipment and proper management of materials.
Use closed-top tool bags when lifting multiple items.
Eliminate “free pockets” for carrying hardware.
Scaffold & Workface Netting
Install toe boards and mesh on scaffold platforms as part of engineering controls.
Use netting or debris containment under areas where overhead work is occurring.
Prohibit staging of loose items on rails or ledges, and make necessary modifications to existing procedures to enhance safety.
Dropped Object Checks in Permitting
Include dropped object prevention checks in every hot work, confined space, or line break permit.
Supervisors verify controls at the start of each shift, following established processes and ensuring the team has the capabilities required to identify and address risks.
Hardware Control
Use bolt bags with closures to secure nuts, bolts, and washers, leveraging the expertise and capability needed to manage hardware effectively.
Prohibit leaving hardware balanced on flanges or equipment.
Awareness Campaigns
Short toolbox talks with visuals showing force of impact at different heights, emphasizing the role of the team and the importance of being responsible and committed to safety.
Tag near-miss reporting specifically for dropped objects to reinforce vigilance.
Tools and technologies can assist in the prevention of dropped objects by improving coordination, tracking, and control throughout the worksite.
These aren’t expensive programs. They’re small investments that pay back many times over in avoided incidents and uninterrupted work.
What Could Have Helped: Lessons from Past Turnaround Projects
From projects and assessments I’ve been part of, the most common gaps are:
Inconsistent standards. Some contractors enforce tethering; others don’t. This highlights the need for standardized processes and effective coordination among all contractors to ensure consistent application of safety measures.
Late adoption. Controls introduced after the first near miss rather than before execution. Early preparation is essential to proactively address risks and implement controls before work begins.
Weak supervision. Dropped object rules exist, but aren’t reinforced. The team must be responsible and committed to enforcing these rules at all times.
No owner oversight. Without the owner requiring one site-wide standard, contractors default to their own practices, if they have any. The company must play an active role and maintain focus on prevention to drive consistent standards across all activities.
Building strong capabilities, leveraging expertise, and applying robust engineering controls are critical in preventing dropped object incidents. Continuous improvement should include modifications to procedures based on lessons learned from each turnaround.
The lesson is clear: prevention only works if it is consistent, enforced, and owned.
The Big Picture: Culture of Planning and Detail
Dropped object prevention is less about equipment and more about discipline in the details.
Leaders set the tone. When supervisors stop jobs because a single wrench isn’t tethered, they send a message: details matter. When leaders let small violations slide, the culture follows suit. A committed team that is responsible for upholding standards and working together is essential for building and maintaining this culture.
This is why dropped object programs are such powerful indicators of safety culture. If a company can maintain a strong focus on prevention and develop the capabilities and expertise of its workforce, it is far more likely to enforce discipline on something as “small” as tethering tools, and on higher-stakes risks like confined space entry or line breaks.
Measuring Success: How Do We Know It’s Working?
In the world of turnaround services, knowing whether your efforts are truly making a difference is just as important as the work itself. For companies investing significant resources into turnaround projects—whether it’s a full plant outage or targeted maintenance; the ability to measure effective turnaround execution is critical for long-term success.
The first step is to establish clear key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect your company’s goals. These might include reductions in downtime, lower overall costs, improved safety records, and increased plant productivity. By tracking these metrics throughout the turnaround process, companies gain full visibility into what’s working and where improvements are needed.
A significant portion of any turnaround involves coordinating multiple contractors and specialized services. In these complex environments, especially during a full plant outage, it’s essential to evaluate not just the end result, but also the efficiency and quality of each contractor’s performance. This means looking at how well teams adhere to the turnaround plan, how effectively they manage resources, and how quickly they respond to unexpected challenges.
Common challenges in measuring turnaround success include limited access to real-time data, inadequate budgeting, and not using the right tools or technologies for planning and scheduling. To address these issues, companies should invest in advanced systems that provide real-time reporting, streamline scheduling, and support better resource management. Proper budgeting and allocation of resources, combined with ongoing training for personnel, help ensure that every phase of the turnaround is executed efficiently and safely.
Benchmarking your company’s performance against industry standards is another powerful way to measure success. By comparing your results to those of similar operations, you can identify strengths, uncover areas for improvement, and refine your turnaround strategy for future projects. This continuous improvement mindset helps reduce costs, minimize costly delays, and enhance the overall quality of maintenance and repair services.
Ultimately, the most successful turnaround projects are those where safety, equipment reliability, and production efficiency are prioritized at every stage. Regular reporting and post-turnaround evaluations allow companies to learn from each project, address common challenges, and drive ongoing improvement in their operations.
By implementing a comprehensive measurement and evaluation system, companies can ensure their turnaround services deliver real value, reducing risks, controlling costs, and supporting the company’s long-term growth and competitiveness in the industry.
Takeaway
Dropped objects may seem minor, but their consequences are anything but. The solutions are simple, inexpensive, and proven. What they require is not technology, but leadership and discipline.
And here’s the key point: the owner must enforce dropped object prevention, not rely on contractors to self-police. Cheap, simple measures like orange netting around elevated work surfaces or a closed-top canvas bag policy are the best insurance policies you can buy.
The principle is simple:
If it can fall, it must be secured.
Every turnaround should adopt that mindset site-wide, enforce it daily, and measure success not by how many near misses occurred, but by how many were prevented.