We're pleased to announce that we have added a selection of Miller fall protection products to our height safety range.
Miller is a new generation of height safety equipment. All of their products are designed with your safety and comfort in mind, and they allow for expanded freedom of movement.
Here are some of the Miller products that are now available to order from SafetyLiftinGear.com:
Pictured above is the Miller Bodyfit full-body harness. With its breathable padding and Duraflex stretch webbing, it's incredibly comfortable to wear and perfect for electrical maintenance, telecommunications work, etc.
The Miller Bodyfit harness is long-lasting and very easy to put on and adjust.
More Miller harnesses:
The product shown above is Miller's kernmantel shock-absorbing lanyard. It comes with a G065 scaffold hook for easy attachment.
This lanyard is designed to be edge resistant, reducing the risk of your height safety equipment breaking on edges. The highly-visible light green rope is easily recognisable even from a distance.
See also: Miller Edge-Tested 2mtr Stretchable Manyard®
View All Miller Products
A construction firm has been fined after a 17-year-old worker fell through a skylight opening and suffered life-changing injuries. On 20 August 2018, the young worker fell through an insulation sheet covering a skylight while walking across an unmarked area on the construction site in Gloucester. He suffered multiple broken bones, which needed two operations to treat. His doctors advised him that it was unlikely he would be able to work in construction ever again. A potential career in construction was cut short by the neglect of another reckless employer.
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that the employee was not supervised properly and was not warned about the risks on site. According to reports, there were no warnings in place about the hole in the roof, and no workers on site had been told about it. No further physical barriers were in place, either - any of these measures could have prevented this tragic accident.
The company failed to take the necessary precautions for working at height, and further investigation showed continued failures to properly and adequately plan constructions at that height (even after the incident in question). The Mark Holland Group pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations and were fined £55,620.
HSE inspectors highlighted how this accident could have been avoided with simple safety precautions, such as the correct height safety equipment.
It's essential for employers to take adequate fall protection measures and follow the health and safety regulations at all times. These safety guidelines are there to help employers comply with the law and prevent death and serious injury.
Employers should aim to carry out work on the ground where possible, or utilise scaffolding or mobile platforms that allow easy and safe access. Failing that, use fall protection equipment to restrain workers in the event of a fall and minimise the distance the individual falls to minimise the potential injury.
Read our blog about choosing the best fall protection equipment for your job.
We hope that employers see stories like this one and make more of an effort to prioritise health and safety to prevent further accidents.
Buy & Hire Height Safety Equipment Our Bespoke Fall Protection Systems
Different types of work require different safety measures. Therefore, it is vital that when working at height, you are properly equipped to complete the specific task-at-hand. However, with so many different working environments, operations and equipment, it can be a challenge to know exactly what type of equipment is needed for what task. Here, we break down the features of working at height, what is required when doing so and the several different working conditions, providing the necessary equipment needed to carry out work in the safest possible way.
Managing work at height follows a hierarchy of controls – avoid, prevent, restrain, arrest, which begins with the question “can the work be done safely from the ground?” Fall arrest equipment should only be considered as a last resort if other safety equipment cannot be used. For situations where work cannot be completed from the ground collective protection equipment such as nets and railings must be considered first.
A common solution is utilising scaffolding or mobile platform (MEWP) that provide easy and safe access at height. If none of the above methods can be implemented, individual fall protection equipment safeguarding from falls must be used. i.e. restraint equipment.
The basic features of individual fall protection equipment protecting against a fall from height are:
RESTRAINT:
FALL ARREST:
All fall protection systems must comprise three basic components:
As mentioned, different work conditions consist of different height safety requirements and procedures as a result of the environment they occur in and the dangers involved. Here we take a look and break down the safety requirements for working on a roof, fragile surfaces, ladders and scaffolds and the correct equipment that is needed to carry out work safely.
All work on roofs is highly dangerous, even a job that can take only minutes to complete consist of potentially fatal risks. Therefore, proper precautions are needed to control all the risks that are involved. The individuals managing and conducting the work need to be properly trained, competent and must fully plan the work to be completed in relation to the main risks, causes of accidents and equipment required.
Falls from roofs, either through fragile surfaces and openings or from roof edges can occur on both commercial and domestic projects as well as new build and refurbishment jobs. Many deaths happen every year involving smaller buildings working on the roof of domestic dwellings, which tend to fall under two types:
Work on a fragile surface roof requires a combination of stagings, guard rails, fall arrest and safety nets slung beneath and close to the roof. All roofs should be treated as fragile until they have been confirmed as not. Fragile rooflights are also a hazard as some may be difficult to spot in certain light conditions or maybe hidden by paint. These areas must be protected by using either barriers or covers that are secured and labelled with a warning. Here at SLG, we provide a number of products that ensure when working on sloping and flat roofs, you are completely protected against falls. You can view our best products for working on flat roofs below.
Fall Arrest Harness > Fall Arrest Block >
Every time a ladder is used to carry out work at height, a pre-use check needs to be conducted to ensure that it is safe for use. This should be carried out by:
The benefit of carrying out pre-use checks is to identify any immediate or serious defects that can cause an accident. The areas of most concern are the ladder’s stiles, feet and rungs. Once this has been completed and you are satisfied that the ladder is in good working condition, you must then ensure that all of the required safety precautions to carry out work whilst on the ladder are in place, including wearing the right equipment. At SafetyLiftinGear, we provide a range of secure ladder safety equipment that ensures your safety whilst working at height, including quality fall protection kits.
Ladder Safety Kit Level 1 > Ladder Safety Kit Level 2 >
Tower scaffolds are one method used to prevent a fall when working at height on a sloped roof. The type of scaffold selected needs to be suitable for the work and erected and dismantled by people who have been trained and are competent to do so. However, despite scaffolds existing to prevent a fall, dangers still exist once the scaffold has been set up, with many people injured each year as a result of falling from them. Incidents with scaffolds often occur as a result of dangerous methods of erection or dismantling, defects in the erected scaffold or the scaffold being misused. To ensure maximum safety whilst working on a scaffold, it is recommended that all workers wear appropriate protective equipment, such as specialist scaffold harnesses. You can view ours below!
Scaffold Harness Kit >
When using mobile elevated work platforms such as cherry pickers and access platforms, there are a number of safety precautions that need to be implemented in order to avoid and prevent falls from occurring. Such as:
If all of these things are adhered to, then the likelihood of a fall or serious consequences as a result of a fall occurring is dramatically decreased. You can find our best-selling access platform harness below!
Safety Harness Kit For Access Platform >
In order to avoid potentially fatal falls when working at height, it’s vitally important that you understand the specific requirements of every task you carry out. The working environment needs to be assessed by competent and qualified people, who can identify dangers and hazards before they cause a real accident. When the work is actually being carried out, the importance of wearing the correct equipment as well as setting up the necessary safety precautions cannot be understated. As well as the above products, we supply a whole range of height safety equipment, perfect for a variety of operations at height. You can browse our extensive collection below.
Browse Height Safety Equipment >
If you have any questions regarding our range of height safety equipment or any of the listed products, please do not hesitate to contact us today.
A roofing company boss has been sentenced to jail after one of his builders fell 30ft to his death whilst working on a £7 million home in Kensington.
The owner of G&L Scaffolding and Roofing, Kevin Leathers, 41, had “flagrantly ignored” safety warnings when father-of-five Jon Currie, 36, was not wearing a harness when he fell, leading to “catastrophic brain damage” and ultimately his death in July 2017.
The experienced scaffolder lost his footing while taking down a temporary roof of corrugated iron panels. Leather pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees and was eventually jailed for eight months, having been previously warned about his employees working in dangerous conditions.
Prosecutors stated that Leathers had been sent a letter reminding him of strict health and safety requirements and that his working practices were “unsafe” when his crew were spotted working without safety harnesses. When Mr Currie fell, he and another worker were again not wearing safety harnesses and no risk assessment had been carried out to identify potential dangers. Curries was also not qualified for the job that he was doing that day. Prosecutor stated that Leathers “failed to exercise his duty of care and as a result, Jon Currie died while working for him. Leathers intentionally breached or flagrantly ignored the law.”
Passing sentence, Judge Joanna QC said “after the letter in April, Leather could not have been warned in clearer terms about the dangers of the activities undertaken. He failed to take appropriate steps. If death results from such failures you must expect to receive an immediate prisons sentence.”
Leather was charged with manslaughter by gross negligence after Curries fell working on an extension to a double-storey basement.
This is another example of the extreme dangers faced when work is carried without the required equipment. Here at SafetyLiftinGear, we provide quality, effective height safety equipment including harnesses, lanyard and fall arrest blocks that assure your safety when working at all heights. You can browse our range below!
Our Height Safety Equipment >
For more information on our height safety equipment or to speak to one of our experts about any of our products, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us today by calling 0117 9381 600 or emailing sales@safetyliftingear.com.
When working within the lifting industry, it is not uncommon to find certain operations requiring workers to work at height. Lifting equipment used within industries such as shipping, construction and engineering often involves significantly tall structures as well as smaller heights, both of which carry risks of harm if something were to go wrong. For this reason, it is imperative to have a height rescue plan in place to identify and avoid risks where possible and to react to problems should they ever occur. Here, we talk you through some of the things you can do to develop an effective height rescue plan.
When it comes to working at height, there are very clear laws in place for people to follow. Previously, the law required that anybody working at a height greater than two metres would have to wear the correct personal protective equipment (PPE). However, the law has since changed and now states that PPE is required “where a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury.”
While some say this new guideline can be open to some sort of interpretation, this can be defined as:
Before creating an effective height rescue plan, there are several considerations you will have to make. The first is to ensure you have the correct equipment and that it has all been fully inspected before use. Another is to ensure all staff members are properly trained to use all rescue equipment in the correct way. Once these things have been put into the place, you can then make a start on creating your rescue plan, which should include the following:
As part of your height rescue plan, you will have to conduct a thorough risk assessment of the site before any operation can begin. You will have to inspect any hazards that could be posed by the task and evaluate the risks involved. Falls from height are one of the most common causes of fatality in the UK each year, and for this reason alone, it is crucial that you have a rescue plan in place should anything go wrong.
If you’re wondering how SafetyLiftinGear can help you create an effective height rescue plan, we have an extensive range of PPE and height rescue equipment that will ensure your rescue plan is carried out in the safest and most efficient way possible. A wide selection of our equipment is available for hire as well as full purchase and can be customised to match your exact rescue needs.
Browse Our PPE Collection > Browse Our Rescue Equipment >
For more information, be sure to get in touch with a member of the SafetyLiftinGear team today by calling 0117 9381 600 or emailing sales@safetyliftingear.com!
A water storage tank manufacturing firm was recently fined thousands of pounds for failing to prevent a fall that left an employee with multiple fractures of the head, ribs, fingers and shoulder blade.
SHP Online recently reported that Braithwaite Engineers Ltd had been fined £9,400 - plus costs of £1,680.75 - after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) noted that the fall, which occurred in October 2017, might have been prevented if the company had provided suitable and clear instructions and working at height training.
HSE Inspector Will Powell stated:
"Falls from vehicles can be overlooked by employers...[but] simple measures would have prevented this accident."
Working on a lorry bed can be dangerous if there's no barrier around the edges of the platform.
Here at SafetyLiftinGear, we sell lorry edge protection straps to help you minimise the risk to your employees while they're working on an elevated lorry bed.
Buy Edge Protection Straps >
These high-visibility straps are easy to attach, and they reduce the likelihood that a worker will fall off the edge of the lorry and injure him/herself.
Our RJ200 hangman frame lorry / container access anchor is also ideal for improving worker safety on raised lorry beds.
Buy or Hire Now >
This frame can be used as a semi-permanent mobile anchor point for safety harnesses when working at height. It stands roughly 6.25 metres tall and allows for a working radius of 3 metres (approximately 9.84 feet).
Please call SafetyLiftinGear on 0117 9381 600 or contact us online if you'd like to discuss your height safety requirements. We're more than happy to recommend products, and we can even provide bespoke fall protection solutions for particularly demanding or unusual jobs.
The dangers of working at height have hit the headlines once again this week after two companies were heavily fined for putting their workers' safety at risk.
According to industry watchdog, Safety & Health Practitioner, an incident in April 2016 saw pipe repair workers in Bilston exposed to significant risk during a job at a warehouse owned by James Durrans & Sons Ltd.
The contractors, working for Kingswinford Engineering Co Ltd, were hired to fix pipework on the roof of the warehouse; however, the conditions provided were shockingly reckless, posing a variety of dangers for those working on the job.
The nature of the task required workers to be hoisted to the roof in a forklift man-cage; however, the forklift fell short of the roof, leaving a three-foot gap.
The roof was then only accessible by climbing from the cage to the roof. Worse still, the roof itself was said to be slippery and wet with no protective barrier in place to prevent a fall.
An investigation by the HSE concluded that neither the warehouse owners or the repair company had conducted a proper risk assessment and no safety system had implemented for the job.
The HSE findings highlighted that both James Durrans & Sons Ltd and Kingswinford Engineering Co Ltd had assumed the other had the safety procedures covered.
This gross negligence led both parties to plead guilty to breaching sections of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The result saw Kingswinford Engineering fined to the tune of £18k with costs of £9k, while Durrans & Sons were fined an even heftier £100k with costs of £20k.
The news story highlights the importance of worker/contractor safety on site and the financial ramifications associated with such an oversight.
Despite the lofty fines levied against both companies involved, the price could have been far steeper should an accident have occurred.
If you or your company are involved in working at height, suitable and appropriate fall protection measures are a must – it could save a life.
For more information on fall arrest and fall protection, call now on 0117 9381 600 or get in touch online using the button below.
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