This article looks at working at height hazards to be aware of as an employer or worker. Find out who is at risk from working at height and risk assessing the work site.
Common Height-Related Hazards
Some jobs that call for working at a height are visibly hazardous. These entail working from ladders, scaffolds, platforms, and high structures as well as above water, trenches, tanks, and steep terrain. A worker who falls from a height of two metres or more increases their risk of dying, suffering a fatal injury, or developing a lifelong disability.
People or objects falling can cause harm and damage if there are inadequate edge protection, inadequate storage or security of products, gaps that are left open, or regions where there are no guardrails or covers.
Due to its very nature, it increases the likelihood of bodily harm or death for employees and provides a multitude of risks that are normally not present when operating at ground level. Since all personnel must be taught to work safely, it is crucial to make sure that a comprehensive risk assessment is done before any work at height is done. The first step in protecting workers is to identify any possible risks that they could encounter.
Although the UK's weather is generally unpredictable and out of our control, it is still important to be ready for rain, snow, ice, and any other extreme circumstances that can arise. Strong winds, rain, and ice may make surfaces slick; heatwaves can induce heatstroke and disorientation, and rain and ice can cause workers to lose their balance and collapse or fall from a height. By taking the necessary precautions as needed, workers can adapt to these shifting weather circumstances.
For instance, workers should stay hydrated in sweltering heat and perform preliminary inspections on their materials and equipment to make sure they can survive heavy winds.
Make sure employees know how to stack and store objects at heights to prevent them from being pushed over or tumbling over in order to avoid an accident like this. To entirely prevent things from falling over the edge, the working platform could also need guardrails or toe boards. You might even need to put limitations in place on the ground below so that no one passes by the area.
Who is at Risk?
Various types of workers may be in danger when working at a height. These include those who work in road transportation, window cleaning, painting and decorating, maintenance, agriculture, and construction. Risk also exists for those who perform one-off tasks at height without the necessary preparation, gear, or training.
In addition, persons who could be injured by workers at height are members of the general public.Anyone working or passing by below is in danger, not only the individuals conducting the activity at height. Materials or equipment used at a height risk falling and injuring someone below, inflicting irreversible damage. To avoid an incident like this, ensure that employees understand how to stack and store goods at a height to prevent them from being knocked over.
To completely prevent objects from tumbling over the edge, the working platform may need guardrails or toe boards.
What Are the Safety Risks of Working at Height?
Every day, construction workers are compelled to work at heights. Working at a height should be avoided whenever feasible, yet it is sometimes inevitable.
Attachments, removals, maintenance, and other difficult tasks must be completed on-site and, most importantly, at a dangerous height. Unfortunately, labour at heights causes more fatalities and injuries than any other type of construction activity.
When it comes to the most prevalent safety dangers associated with working at height, are often divided into two categories: falling from height and dropping equipment from height.
The dangers of falling from a height range from minor injuries to fatalities. Construction work sometimes entails working at heights, which can have catastrophic repercussions when someone falls from a height.
The hazards suddenly increase significantly, whether you're scaling ladders, lowering and elevating oneself with a harness and pulley system, or even scaling scaffolds.
It is so severe that many businesses are now investing heavily in staff training for working at heights; nearly a third of fatal accidents on construction sites are caused by work done at a height.
Overstretching, utilising ladders inappropriately, and standing on shaky surfaces are three of the most frequent causes of slips and falls.Workers, however, have the ability to drop equipment from a height.
Although you would believe that fallen objects have less of an effect, they can nevertheless be lethal. Dropping objects from relatively modest heights can result in a variety of injuries, from fractures to paralysis and death.
The region below ground level where work is being done at a height is frequently fenced off and access is limited. Hardhats, which guard against fallen objects, are among the personal protection equipment (PPE) that workers below must wear.
What is Working at Height?
Working at height may be simply described as any task that requires a height and presents a danger of bodily injury. Most people associate working at heights with enormous cranes, cherry pickers, and harnesses; in reality, even work done on the ground might be considered to be done at a height.
Using ladders, even step ladders, may be regarded as working at a height depending on the situation. Health and Safety UK defines working at height as doing so while facing the risk of falling from an edge or through a fragile surface, such as a hole in the ground.
Risk Assessing Working at Height
In order to evaluate the controls put in place to avoid damage, a risk assessment entails carefully examining the potential harm that might befall a person in a given circumstance.
A risk assessment typically consists of the following five steps: identifying the hazards, determining who might be harmed and how that harm would manifest, assessing the risks and selecting safety measures, documenting your findings and putting them into action, and reviewing and revising your risk assessment as necessary.
Hierarchy of Controls
Significantly more industrial fatalities and serious injuries are caused by falls from great heights. Every worker at a height must possess the essential knowledge and training in order to safeguard their safety.
Anyone operating in circumstances where a person may fall a distance that might injure them is expected to employ a safe technique of work that has been created based on a risk assessment, per the Work at Height Regulations of 2005.
Avoid
Make sure to work safely without working at height whenever it is fairly practical to do so since there is always a danger involved; ensuring that your team is adequately trained is the first step.
Make sure they are capable, experienced, and equipped to do any task at height. It's crucial to have the proper individuals working on the correct tasks since different job assignments require various knowledge and abilities.
After that, wherever you can, avoid working at dangerous heights - make sure that you limit your exposure to falls as much as possible.
Always ensure that employees are utilising the appropriate tools for the job at hand.
Staff should have a secure means to transport their tools to and from work since backpacks may accommodate a variety of items that could otherwise fall from pockets; another solution to prevent goods from being dropped is lanyards.
Finally, be familiar with the location you are working in. Your methods should have taken into account weak surfaces and probable collapse if work is being done on an old, deteriorating roof or surface. Make sure that your staff members feel confident and at ease, and that there are no unpleasant shocks when working at heights; going too far can result in fatal results.
Prevent Falls
If you have to operate at a height, you should evaluate the hazards and put safety precautions in place to allow work to be accomplished while preventing falls and falling items. This might involve installing railings, temporary edge protection, or making sure anyone working at heights has the proper work restraint gear, such as a harness and lanyard.
Minimise Falls
Always keep a fall's distance and effects to a minimum. Collective protection, such as a hanging net beneath the workspace (as seen in the figure on the right), or a fall protection system for individuals are two examples of measures that can achieve this (e.g. harness and energy absorbing lanyard). Give collective protective measures (such as guardrails, scaffolding, and MEWPs) priority over individual protective measures at all phases (i.e. safety harnesses, work positioning).
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.
Inflatable Fall Arrest Bags Hertfordshire