What you need to know
Guidance: what you need to know – working at height
Connect looks at the issue of working at height and
asks what’s classed as ‘working from height’ and how it can be
avoided, or even eliminated.
Headlines
- Falls from height continue to be the most common kind of fatal
accident in the UK workplace. HSE figures for 2007/08 show
that 55 workers (32 employees and 23 self-employed) died following
a fall from height
- This represents one quarter of all workplace deaths (excluding
deaths on the road, which are reported separately)
- The worst industry is still construction,
with 33 of the 55 deaths (60 per cent)
- A further 3,660 people were seriously injured by falls from
height in 2007/08 for employed
and self-employed.
Major injuries included fractured skulls and broken legs. More than
half of these injuries were to people working in the service
sector, with transport, retail and office workers accounting for
over 1,000 major injuries
- You don’t have to fall from a
great height to be hurt. Six of the 55 deaths and nearly 70 per
cent of the major injuries were from a fall below head height.
How high is high?
The Construction
(Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 made a
distinction between work below or above two metres, with different
risk control measures required. Although these were revoked by the
2007 Construction (Design and Management) Regulations, some sources
still make this distinction.
However, the Work at Height Regulations 2005 (regulation 2(1))
define work at height as:
(a) “work in any place, including a place at or below ground
level”
(b) “obtaining access to, or egress from, such place while at
work, except by a staircase in a permanent workplace, where…a
person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury.”
In other words, as people can have major accidents falling from
the bottom rung of a ladder, any movement away from the floor
should be considered as work at height.
Who works at height?
Anyone. It’s not just window cleaners, roof workers and tree
surgeons. Office workers, teachers and librarians may need to reach
a book on a high shelf or catering staff may need to reach a high
cupboard to store kitchen equipment or access ingredients.
What are the key regulations?
The key regulation concerning working at height is the
Work at Height
Regulations 2005. The Work at
Height (Amendment) Regulations 2007 also applies to those
who provide instruction or leadership in caving or climbing for
sport, recreation, team building or similar activities.
Regulations 6, 7 and 8 of the Construction (Health, Safety and
Welfare) Regulations 1996 state requirements for preventing
falls and falling objects backed up by requirements in the
schedules on guardrails,
working
platforms, personal
suspension equipment, arresting
falls and ladders.
Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 may need
to be consulted, for example when considering the non-slip nature
of protective footwear and when assessing harnesses needed to work
at height.
Provision and Use
of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 have been used to prosecute
companies for accidents at height. See, for example, the breach
following the
collapse of a scaffold board.
Main principles
Eliminate: Regulation 6 (2)
of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states that “Every
employer shall ensure that work is not carried out at height where
it is reasonably practicable to carry out the work safely otherwise
than at height.” In other words, don’t do the job at height if you
can do it on the ground.
Prevent: Is there an existing safe place of
work from which the task can be carried out? If there’s no existing
safe place of work, create one using temporary guard rails around a
roof, or by providing a correctly constructed scaffold.
Reduce distance and consequences: Regulation 6
(5ai) of the 2005 regulations requires every employer, so far as is
reasonably practicable, to provide sufficient work equipment to
minimise the distance and consequences. The distance that a person
can fall can be reduced with safety nets or fall arrest systems. An
airbag can reduce the consequences of a fall.
For both prevention and
reduction, collective measures (such as guardrails
and safety nets) should be considered before individual measures
(such as personal fall restraints).
Reduce time spent at height: You can also
reduce the number of times you need to work at height. For example,
long-life light bulbs need replacing less often. Co-ordination of
maintenance needs can combine several small maintenance jobs where
it might feel “practicable” to use a ladder into one larger
maintenance job which makes it worth erecting a scaffold tower.
Some organisations change all fluorescent lighting tubes on a
regular schedule, rather than waiting for each one to fail.
Training and instruction: Regulation 5 of
the 2005 regulations states “Every employer shall ensure that
no person engages in any activity, including organisation, planning
and supervision, in relation to work at height or work equipment
for use in such work unless he is competent to do so or, if being
trained, is being supervised by a competent person.”
The HSE interpretation of this is that ladders can be used, but
only when workers have the competence to decide if the ladder is
appropriate for the job (i.e. of short duration and low risk) and
know how to check it and use it correctly. The ladder must also be
maintained and inspected appropriately. The HSE recommends that
unless a ladder is used only infrequently (once a month or less)
and only for light work (typically less than 95kg combined weight
of user and equipment), ladders used at work should be Class 1 (as
defined by BS 1129: 1990 or BS 2037: 1994) or conform with BS EN
131 (2007).
How can I eliminate or avoid work at height?
Some examples of how work at height can be eliminated:
- Many window cleaners have moved to systems which enable them to
reach first storey windows with poles, while standing on the
ground, rather than climbing a ladder or using more expensive
equipment.
- In the theatre, rather than using ladders to climb up to
lighting rigs to change bulbs or filters, lighting rigs can be
installed that can be lowered to the ground by a pulley.
- Provide storage that allows teachers to access text books, or
kitchen staff to store saucepans without needing to leave the
floor.
There are further examples in the “avoid” section of the
HSE work at height
video.
Checklist
If you’ve decided that you can’t eliminate working at height and
that some equipment needs to be used to provide a safe place of
work, consider the following:
- How high up (or low down) is the work?
- How much movement is needed horizontally and vertically during
the work?
- How long will the job take?
- Does the job involve:
- Carrying heavy or awkward loads?
- Stretching or reaching?
- What’s the terrain on which the work equipment will stand? Is
it:
- Dry or muddy?
- Flat or uneven?
- Clear, or covered in gravel or debris?
Are there any obstacles that the work equipment must straddle or
avoid?
- Are there any access issues, for example does the equipment
need to be moved through any doorways or into lifts?
And importantly:
- Do you have people who are qualified and competent to erect,
use and dismantle the equipment safely?
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