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Do you want to find out how to assess the risks of working at height? We look at what you need to know about working at height risk assessments.

Assess the risk of Working at height

Working at height is one of the most known and biggest causes of major injuries and even fatalities. The construction industry holds the most significant number of cases, and many common incidents tend to involve falls through or near fragile surfaces or from high ladders.

Working at height encompasses any work up high wherein any employee or builder could fall a large distance should there be no specific precautions put in place. Suppose the liable distance of the fall is enough to cause personal injury or even death. In that case, employers need to assess the risks at hand and ensure an action plan is developed and carried out to avoid such circumstances.

AT WHAT HEIGHT DO YOU NEED EDGE PROTECTION

Creating a Working at Height Risk Assessment

When creating a working at height risk assessment, there are a few steps to follow that will enhance the precision of your report, ensuring everything possible is checked off your list, and no factors are neglected.

Identifying the hazards

The first step is to begin by identifying the hazards at stake within your workplace:

• Carry out sufficient workplace observations and inspections.
• Obtain plenty of feedback from your staff and employees.
• Check the instructions and data sheets of all work equipment and machinery.
• Review the ill-health and past accident records as they may give you an idea of the risks.
• Your risk assessment must be as pedantic as possible to look out for the safety and well-being of your employees and the general public. Such could involve looking out for more simplistic, everyday risks like slip or trip hazards, cleaning up debris, dust or chemicals, fire risks, manual handling of tools and equipment, etc.
• When working on completing a risk assessment for working at height projects, jobs and activities, please refer to the Work at Height Regulations 2005, as this act contains work-specific factors to adhere to in your risk assessment.

Deciding who might be harmed and how

The second step involved in creating a work-at-height risk assessment is carefully analysing the hazards you have identified and deciphering which of your employees may be severely harmed should they encounter such risks.

The following people who could be at risk include:

• Specific groups of employees.
• Customers and the GP (General Public).
• Visitors or inspection officials.

When curating a risk assessment, you must account for the employees and staff who are at a disadvantage, for example:

• Young workers.
• Expectant mothers.
• People with disabilities.
• People who are not always at work, such as part-timers and sub-contractors.
• Consider each person at your workplace, especially those working in hazardous areas and ensure they have all the knowledge and training regarding the precautions. 

Evaluating the risks and deciding on precautions

When curating solid risk assessments for your working at heights company to carry out a careful examination of the hazards, the following step is to decide whether the risks you've found can be prevented or eliminated.

It would be best to begin by considering the following:

• Select a less risky option to complete your job or project if possible.
• Can you prevent yourself or your workers from accessing this hazard?
• Try re-organising the work to see if this controls or reduces the exposure to harm.
• Ensure all training staff understand the hazards and are well-versed in the precautions they must take.
• Finally, you want to issue PPE to your workers (Personal Protective Equipment).

Recording your findings and implementing them

All workplaces with more than five employees are legally urged and legally obliged to record their risk assessments in a detailed document. However, even if you have fewer workers, professionals still recommend that you create one anyway. Even as someone self-employed, it may be helpful to prevent yourself from obstructions or harm by assessing the risks and recording your findings.

Ensuring you keep records is vital so that you can demonstrate the following:

• You've properly checked your system, equipment, gear and staff.
• It shows you've considered those affected by the potential dangers.
• The report will show that you have put in the work to deal with as many preventative hazards as possible, taking into account all those who are potentially involved.
• Your precautions are practical and reasonable to keep the risk low.
• All representatives and teams of staff are involved in your risk assessment, making them fully aware of all dangers and the control measures to prevent them.

Things to remember about a risk assessment include remembering to note down the date when you began recording the details, the name and company details of your competent assessor and the dates of the action taken and its completion.

Reviewing your assessment and updating if necessary

It's essential to check and review your risk assessment regularly. We recommend maintaining it every 6-12 months, as this will give your workplace enough time so that you can assess the changes that could have a knock-on effect on your risk assessment. It's always good to have an updated risk assessment that reflects your existing workers and their methods to prevent harm or tackle obstructions.

You may want to ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you need to make improvements to your risk assessment?
• Has there been any feedback from your employees on the current measure?
• Have you learnt from any incidents, accidents or close calls?
• Have you introduced any new machinery or equipment to the workplace or construction site?
• Are there any new employees on board that need training?

Answer these questions and update your risk assessment accordingly. Each time you gain a new staff member, new equipment, machinery or gear or anytime there are any significant issues or accidents, we would encourage you to ensure your assessment report stays up-to-date. You never know what health and safety measures you may have to enforce due to developing hazards.

Hierarchy of Controls

You'll find that professional builders and contractors have a height hierarchy of controls regarding the systems they put in place for every job. These controls consist of the following factors that they consider:

Avoid Working At Height If Possible

There are a whole host of risks for those working at height, so, as an employer or contractor, you want to assess the construction site thoroughly and determine if there are any low-risk alternatives at ground level. Wherever it is reasonably practical to do so, we would encourage your workers to carry out the project or job safely.

Avoid working at height until it is entirely necessary, and when you do so, try to minimise the workload to ensure your employees are only working at height for a short duration.

Prevent Falls

If your project or job requires you to work at height, it's paramount to assess all potential height risks and put measures in place to reduce the dangers and allow you and your employees to successfully complete work safely.

Preventing falls or objects may include implementing guard rails for those on working platforms or roof edges or ensuring your employees working at height have all the necessary work restraint equipment, such as lanyards and harnesses.

Minimise Falls

Minimising distance and the overall consequences of falling from heights is paramount. One of the most significant examples of working at height precautions is known as collective protection, often in the form of a suspended net or fall arrest airbags placed beneath the work location to catch people or falling objects.

Alternatively, you may also want to ensure each employee has their own personal protection system, whether an energy-absorbing lanyard or a high-quality harness.

Risk assessing working at height

The risk assessment is a report that accurately and closely examines the harm that may come to your workers and employees or aspects of the task at hand that could obstruct them from completing the work efficiently. It's one of the most effective ways of evaluating controls you can implement to avoid harm to your employees and business.

Generally, your risk assessment must follow these steps:

• Identify the hazards at hand.
• Decide which of your workers may be harmed due to the potential circumstances and what the potential harm may look like.
• Evaluate the risks that could lead to such harm and create a series of precautions.
• Record your risk findings and begin implementing your precautions.
• Review and revise the precautions or the entire risk assessment where necessary, particularly after meetings, conferences, at the end of a project, or whenever you make changes.

Precautions required

Working at height laws require you, as an employer, to take responsibility for curating a thorough risk assessment that covers the entire project or job. You are in charge of all the organising and planning, making you the most suitable for assessing and identifying the potential risks. The employer must ensure they have developed a properly planned scheme for all work at height to achieve adequate supervision, and your workers can carry out all tasks safely.

We recommend adopting the approach of professionals by closely following the hierarchy of controls regarding the work-at-height regulations. Follow the legal requirements and hierarchy systematically and when your workers cannot practice one step within the bounds of ground-level work, consider the next level.

You don't want to select work equipment from the lowest level of the hierarchy, like lanyards or harnesses, for a job where it is unacceptable.