Yesterday, we told you all about our new Ergodyne tool lanyards; today, we'd like to show you a video that Ergodyne made to promote their products and encourage people to stay safe whilst working at height:
The video above is all about what Ergodyne call 'The Three Ts': Tethering, Topping, and Tagging. Don't worry if you haven't the time to watch the whole thing - here are The Three Ts in a nutshell:
The following considerations are absolutely critical for anyone who works at height:
As these unfortunate watermelons found out, even small items (such as nuts and bolts) can do a lot of damage when dropped from height!
Click here for more information about working at height, or visit SafetyLiftinGear's Height Safety section to find out how we can help you to stay safe at work.
If you and/or your employees work at height, it is crucial to ensure that all work is carried out as safely as possible. Today, we're going to answer some frequently asked questions on the subject of working at height - if you're not sure what's required of you, read on to find out more about height safety and what you should be doing about it:
The HSE website defines 'work at height' as any work carried out in "any place where, if there were no precautions in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury". You don't have to be a specific distance above the ground before you qualify - if there's a chance you could fall and hurt yourself, you're working at height.
Again, there's no objective answer to this question: if you suffer a fall, the severity of your injuries will depend on your age, your weight, the surface on which you land, the way in which you land, and dozens of other factors besides the exact height you fell from. People have been known to survive falls from several kilometres high; conversely, people have been seriously injured and even killed by falls of a few feet or even less. This is why there is no specified limit to what constitutes 'working at height' - even the smallest of falls can be catastrophic!
We answered this question last month - the Work at Height Regulations 2005 don't specify any particular equipment or required safety measures, but they do state the need for "sufficient work equipment" and a proper assessment of any height safety risks. It's basically up to you to decide what precautions and which pieces of equipment will best protect you and your workers, but you won't get away with not doing anything.
Your main aim when selecting height safety equipment should be to prevent a fall from occurring. This can be achieved with safety harnesses and fall arrest blocks. Some kind of edge protection system can also help to minimise the risk of an accident. Otherwise, height safety generally depends on common sense - see our height safety fails blog for some examples of what not to do.
Need some height safety equipment? Visit our Working at Height department.
The key piece of legislation for people who work at potentially dangerous heights in Great Britain is The Work at Height Regulations 2005. As stated on the HSE website, this legislation was put in place "to prevent death and injury caused by a fall from height". The regulations state that work at height must be:
Interestingly, the 2005 regulations do not specify any particular equipment that must be used when working at height - they simply state the need for "sufficent work equipment" and remind employers that, when selecting appropriate height safety equipment for any given task, they must take account of working conditions, fall distance, the duration of the job, and several other factors.
In a nutshell: the law doesn't state that you HAVE to use a safety harness or a fall arrest block, but you are required to have some kind of fall prevention system in place, and the aforementioned items are among the most commonly-used solutions. In the end, it is up to you to decide what kind of equipment is most appropriate for the task at hand.
If one of your employees suffers an accident whilst working at height, you may investigated by the Health and Safety Executive. If they decide that you neglected to provide the right safety equipment or otherwise failed to fulfil your duties as an employer (as prescribed by the 2005 regulations and several other pieces of legislation), you will likely be prosecuted, which can lead to hefty fines and even jail time.
So don't leave anything to chance! Plan your work properly, carry out a full risk assessment before starting, and always use the appropriate height safety equipment to minimise the risk of a fall.
Further Reading: Height Safety Checklist
We were recently presented with the task of designing and installing permanent access systems on the underside of Hastings Pier.
The pier suffered extensive fire damage in October 2010, destroying an estimated 95% of the superstructure. The Hastings Pier Charity was formed shortly afterwards, and funding was secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which enabled restoration work to commence in January 2014.
Due to the nature of this project, no steel sections were able to be drilled, so we at SafetyLiftinGear had to design and fabricate bespoke stainless steel brackets for the mounting of our permanent horizontal safety lines.
The safety lines will provide over 170 metres of safe access for engineers when completing future maintenance and inspections along the underside of the pier.
This project is yet another example of SLG's ability to provide a bespoke solution for any brief. Visit our Height Safety department or contact us now to get what you need for your project.
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