What is the best way to prevent accidents from falling from a height? We look at important safety tips for avoiding accidents when working at height.
Preventing Falls From Heights
Being one of the leading causes of fatal workplace accidents and significant workplace injuries, falling is a danger that neither an employee nor an employer should take lightly. Most of us are accustomed to making efforts to maintain places that are accessible to the general public clean of clutter, and free of ice and snow in order to avoid the usual trip- or slip-and-fall accident.
However, your employees run the risk of falling from elevated workstations, above platforms, or into cracks in the floor or wall. OSHA has set standards for the heights at which fall protection is necessary; according to building codes, fall protection must begin at 6 feet - industry regulations, however, say that protection should begin at 4 feet instead. If they are operating above any form of risky gear or equipment, they must wear fall protection regardless of how high they are working.
Accidents happen, but you may lower your risk by implementing a fall prevention strategy that emphasises worker training, equipment selection for your unique work environment, ensuring that all equipment is properly fitted to each user and periodic equipment inspections.
WHERE IS EDGE PROTECTION REQUIRED?
Tips To Prevent Falling From Heights:
It's important to have a safe workplace, and having the proper safety procedures and regulations in place for things like working at heights, first aid and CPR, entering tight spaces, and things like WHMIS-GHS can help to create a fantastic workplace that is both safe and productive.
Since the inception of working at heights, the diversified group of certified health and safety specialists such as OSHA have taken great satisfaction in their capacity to provide quick, affordable, and pertinent workplace health and safety solutions. Any company that surrounds itself with working at heights must fulfil the set requirements of being MOL-certified as well as TSSA-recognised and approved.
Some of the most tragic and prevalent workplace events occur when employees disregard safety when working at heights; this kind of work necessitates meticulous planning and protection in terms of safety standards. You must avoid fall injuries by following adequate safety measures and ensuring that personnel are properly educated. With respect to construction sites, here are some of the things you need to take into consideration to avoid employees from falling from heights:
Identify Each Potential Fall Hazard
Whether you are in construction, demolition, maintenance, or something else, you must identify every possible fall hazard.
When executing these responsibilities, you must be adequately equipped with the appropriate tools, especially when working on unstable and brittle surfaces. Some platforms could corrode, especially if they are in a factory or an area with a lot of reactive elements.
The platforms and scaffolding that your staff use need to be periodically inspected; if employees do not use the proper fall-arresting equipment, a platform collapse might result in serious injury or death.
When personnel are operating many feet above the earth, poor weather conditions might cause unexpected slips - if the weather poses a risk to their safety, employees must refrain from performing their responsibilities at heights.
Assess Situations And Risks Which Might Result In A Fall
Since falling is always a possibility whether you're on a roof or at the top of a building, you must examine the conditions and hazards in which you may fall - before you ascend the ladder, you should examine the site's features, such as its size, layout, and nature; inform your superiors right away so that they can take appropriate action to resolve any dangers you discover.
Employ Emergency Procedures To Respond To Fall Incidents
Make sure there are emergency response plans in place so that incidences of falls may be addressed right away. Even though you must make every effort to prevent falls, they may nevertheless occur - your methods should account for and successfully handle fall emergencies.
Ensure That Prevention Measures Has Enough Maintenance Services
To guarantee that your employees are trained and equipped with the necessary resources to handle a fall emergency, you must make sure that preventative measures are in place and that the entire site has enough maintenance services.
Do Regular Updates Of All Safety Measures And Risks Assessments
All workplace safety precautions and risk assessments need to be updated on a regular basis as necessary - give these things a high priority, working at heights necessitates being in an area where safety precautions must be taken to avoid serious injury from a large fall.
Working at heights is one of the top causes of fatal work-related accidents and significant injuries; despite the apparent safety of the height, falls into debris from ladders, scaffolding, and lifts can cause severe harm. Employers must take all necessary steps to limit the risk of their employees falling from a height, including proactive hazard awareness and periodic site reviews.
Implement Protective Measures To Lessen The Risks
You must take precautions in order to reduce the hazards associated with working at heights; you must also be able to comprehend what you should avoid and what you should do in order to create the safest workplace possible.
In all workplaces where there is a possibility that workers may fall through openings in the floor, the edge of a building, an elevator shaft, or a roof, for instance, proper control measures must be taken to either avoid falls or, if this is not possible, to lessen the effects of a fall.
Double guard rails, floor coverings, and safety harnesses on lanyards that keep workers from reaching exposed edges can all help prevent falls. Items don't tumble from the working platform onto personnel below, thanks to a toe board.
If you are working on a construction project in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Kent or London, you will be considring the safety requirements of your workers. Follow the links below for construction site safety nets, crash bags hire and edge protection hire.
Construction Safety Nets London Fall Arrest Bags London Edge Protection Systems London