Iron Workers Local 396 member shares how savvy co-worker, fall arrest equipment saved his life

Local 396 member Zach Holdman featured on Iron Workers’ YouTube channel

By SHERI GASSAWAY
Missouri Correspondent

About a year and a half ago, Iron Workers Local 396 journeyman Zach Holdman reported to work, filling in for another iron worker who had to take care for some family matters. Had it not been for a savvy co-worker and the proper use of fall arrest equipment, it could have been Holdman’s last day on the job.

Holdman, of Overland, shared what happened with the Iron Workers International union, and it produced a video of him telling his fall story that could be used to train apprentices and other journeyman on the importance of safety on the job. It was featured on the Iron Workers You Tube channel.

According to the National Safety Council, slips, trips and falls were the second leading cause of workplace fatalities in 2021, accounting for 17 percent of all workplace deaths in the United States.

‘I WAS CONNECTING THAT DAY’
“I was connecting that day, and we walked out on a piece – we were setting some floor beams and right before I did, my partner looked at where I was tied off, and I was going to really have a long freefall if I were to fall,” Holdman said in the video. “He told me to tie off on the piece I was walking onto, and I’m sure glad he did because right after that, I fell.”

Holdman’s partner that day was Kyle McNeil – former Local 396 Business Manager Tom McNeil’s nephew.

“Sure enough, I walked out onto the piece and put my right foot down on the flange and that weight shift, plus all the bolts I had in my bag from the morning was enough to just throw me off the side,” he explained in the video.

FALL RETRACTABLES
“Thankfully, I was wearing those short fall retractables – some people call them twin turbos. I know they’re heavy and a lot of guys don’t like to wear them, but I fell just a few feet and bumped the column with my head – just a trip to the doctor and some Tylenol.

“Where I was tied off before my partner corrected me, I would have fallen and swung right in the side of a mezzanine deck and that would have been a different scenario than we had that day,” he said. “We all got families to go home to so just take that extra 10 seconds for them.”

Holdman, 26, is a young up and coming journeyman at Local 396 and was just recently elected as a new officer on the union’s Examining Board, said Mike Heibeck, Local 396 business manager.

IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY
“If Zack wouldn’t have been tied off that day, he might have never had the opportunities, to excel as well as he has in his iron working career,” Heibeck told the Labor Tribune. “His story of staying tied off and using the fall protection correctly has helped teach our young apprentices and journeyman iron workers the importance of safety and going home safe to their families every day.”

Holdman said the biggest takeaway he wants people to remember from the video is to “have each other’s back and make sure you’re properly tied off.”

To see the video, visit youtube.com/watch?v=tdHF-UGP5jw.