All posts tagged working at height

13Dec2016

Collapsible Ladders: Buy Yours Today

mike products

If you need a sturdy ladder that will help you to safely access high-up areas, our Collapsible Telescopic Aluminium Ladder is a perfect choice. This lightweight collapsible ladder is one of the best-selling items in our entire product range, and the glowing reviews we've received from countless happy customers suggest that it's a very high-quality ladder indeed!

Here's just a sample of the feedback we've had:

"Good value, very convenient and easy to handle" - Peter from Ingatestone
"Excellent ladder - ideal for getting into the loft and easy to store" - Steven from the Isle of Man
"Arrived promptly. Worked as expected. Especially like the stops between rungs so you do not catch your fingers when lowering it" - Eric from Wantage

One of the best features of this collapsible ladder is its ability to be easily transported. It is simple to fold down, resulting in it being small enough to store just about anywhere, from the cupboard under the sink to the boot of your car. While the ladder can be safely used by people weighing up to 150kg (that's 23 stone and 8 pounds), the product itself is very lightweight indeed, so you should have no trouble carrying it around.

Watch the video below to see our Collapsible Ladder in use and click the button to order yours today!

Buy Your Collapsible Ladder >

If you have any questions regarding our Telescopic Collapsible Ladder or any of our other products and services, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with a member of the SLG team today!

02Dec2016

Tree Surgeon Equipment: Stay Safe at Height

mike products

Working at height can be very dangerous, and if there's one profession that guarantees a steady stream of high-up work, it's tree surgery. Tree surgeons (also known as arborists) are required to ascend tall trees on a daily basis, and it's important for these workers and their employers to do everything possible to minimise the risk of a fall.

We at SafetyLiftinGear.com consider ourselves specialists in the field of height safety, and sure enough, we sell a range of height safety products that are especially perfect for tree surgeons and the work they do.

Our selection of tree surgeon equipment is designed to help arborists climb trees and go about their work safely. Here's a quick look at some of the products currently available to buy or hire from SafetyLiftinGear.com:

Safety Harnesses

A strong safety harness is perhaps the most important item for anyone who works at height. To help prevent you / your workers from falling to the ground during a job, we offer an assortment of different harnesses that are ideally suited to tree surgery.

Climbing Accessories

We also stock a variety of ascenders, descenders, and pulley products to help you get up and down trees with minimal difficulty.

Tool Lanyards & Hooks

These products are designed to prevent tools and other items from falling to the ground while you're busy working. A tool dropped from height can cause serious injuries to anyone who might be standing beneath you, so it's a good idea to use hooks and lanyards to keep everything attached to your person.

Click here to browse and buy our arborist equipment >

03Oct2016

Safety Lanyards: New Additions to Our Range

jodie products

As you may already be aware, we sell a great range of tool lanyards here at SafetyLiftinGear, and if you and/or your employees regularly work at height, you'll be pleased to learn that we've just added a couple of new lanyards to our website.

These lanyards are great for stopping objects falling from height - here's a quick introduction to our newest arrivals:

Elastic Helmet Lanyard (with Buckle)

This elasticated Skullguard lanyard is designed to prevent your helmet / hardhat from falling off your head while you're working at height. The lanyard can be easily attached to many different types of headgear, and the plastic buckle at the other end connects to your safety harness or overalls.

Tool Safety Lanyard with Connecting Buckle

This expanding bungee-type lanyard can be connected to your belt using the buckle provided. The looped design allows you to safely store tools/equipment when not in use - this keeps your hands free and ensures that your tools won't fall and cause harm below. We also sell a pack of 3 additional connecting buckles to save you removing your tools from the connecting buckle every time.

Click here to browse our full range of tool lanyards >

05Sep2016

New to SafetyLiftinGear: Ladder Safety Kits

jodie products

Our new ladder safety kits are ideal for staying safe when working at height.

Falls from height are responsible for a startling number of workplace injuries every year, and around half of all fatal workplace falls involve ladders. We've probably all been up a ladder on at least a few occasions, and when you need to access a hard-to-reach area, a ladder is very often the best tool for the job; however, ladders can also be very dangerous if not used safely.

To help you and/or your employees stay safe on ladders, we are proud to present two brand new additions to the SafetyLiftinGear website: our ladder safety kits. Here's a quick primer on what each one includes:

Level 1 Ladder Safety Kit

The level 1 kit includes the following items:

2-point safety harness
Reusable ladder restraint tie (12mm diameter, suitable for use with any solid brick or concrete wall)
Waterproof PVC kit bag
Scaffold hook (attaches to ladder rung)
Twist lock karabiner (attaches to the safety harness)
Endless lashing (for securing the ladder to the ladder restraint tie)

Click here to view the level 1 ladder safety kit.

Level 2 Ladder Safety Kit

The level 2 kit includes a 10m safety line that allows the user to carry up a variety of items (such as small tools or buckets) with ease. If you purchase this kit, you'll receive the following items:

2 point safety harness
Stainless steel rope grab
Kermantle rope (10m length, 12mm thickness)
Waterproof PVC kit bag
Webbing anchor (attaches safety line to the ladder via a karabiner)
Twist lock karabiner
Reusable ladder restraint tie (12mm diameter, suitable for use with any solid brick or concrete wall)
Endless lashing (for securing the ladder to the ladder restraint tie)

Click here to view the level 2 ladder safety kit.

Who Should Use Our Ladder Safety Kits?

These two kits are designed to keep ladders securely in place and ensure that users remain safe and protected while working at height. They are ideal for any worker who frequently uses a ladder to access hard-to-reach locations, including:

Painters
Window cleaners
Security equipment installers
Cable/telecom workers

Do you work at height on a regular basis? Click here to view our full range of height safety gear.

22Jul2016

Failure to use Fall Arrest Systems Leads to Another Fatality and Conviction

robin health & safety

A few days ago, SHP published a court review, regarding the recent sentencing of a negligent site manager. This case related to a fatality which occurred in January last year, where 40 year old window fitter Tasadaq Ur-Rehman fell through a skylight, suffering serious head injuries.

On investigation, it was revealed that site manager Faruk Patel had completely neglected height safety procedures, and had continued to do so even after the fatality took place. Although HSE had issued a prohibition for work at height to be suspended, they later found evidence that it had continued under the disregardful management of Mr Patel.

During the investigation, it soon became clear that the manager's neglectful attitude to safety extended beyond the events which led to his worker's death, and included:

A failure to provide scaffolding and proper fall arrest systems for the job being undertaken.
Overseeing an unsafe working environment where suitable handling equipment was not being used, and the existing equipment was being misused, and had not been secured properly.
A failure to follow the most basic of health and safety measures, such as providing suitable PPE, making potential hazards clear with safety signs, and ensuring that a member of the team was first aid qualified.

As a result, Mr Patel was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for manslaughter by gross negligence, as well as eight months for health and safety offences, which seems like something of a small price to pay in relation to the needless loss of life caused by his lack of care. The aspect which most shocks us about this case, is the sheer scale of his indifference and incompetence, which makes it something of a miracle that no further injuries or fatalities were caused.

Another baffling yet all-too familiar aspect of this case, was the manager's ignorant and misinformed view of his responsibility, as Mr Patel openly expressed his opinion that each individual was responsible for their own safety. While it may be true that a safe workplace requires it's workers to employ safe working practices, it is first and foremost, the responsibility of those in charge to provide them with the tools to do this. Mr Patel was responsible for providing his workers with the training, knowledge and equipment needed to work safely, but it's startlingly clear that he failed miserably on all counts.

If you're an employer/manager who one day finds themselves in a similar situation, your ignorance will not provide you with a valid excuse, and will not pardon your actions (or lack of). If you oversee operations at height, you have a duty to provide fall arrest systems and personal protective equipment for your workers, in order to eliminate the potential dangers posed by working at height. If you aren't sure about what your operation needs, then make sure that you reach out to the professionals for advice, as there is no doubt that you will be held accountable if and when something goes wrong.

If you need advice on choosing the correct fall arrest equipment, please get in touch with the SafetyLiftinGear team, so that we are able to help you avoid choosing the wrong product, or failing to prepare for the demands of your job!

30Jun2016

Working at Height: Unsafe Practices Can Lead to Severe Injuries

mike health & safety

It's easy to underestimate just how dangerous working at height can be. Remember, 'working at height' doesn't always mean standing on top of a skyscraper; the UK Health & Safety Executive defines it as "work carried out in any place where a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury". Whether you're standing on a scaffold or an upturned box, if there's a chance you could fall and hurt yourself then it counts as working at height.

And when you're working at height, it's crucial to take the appropriate height safety measures. Again, it's easy to underestimate the measures that might be required - everybody knows that you need some sort of fall prevention system in place when you're working on a rooftop, but people are often perfectly happy to use, say, a stepladder without considering whether or not it's safe to do so.

But just as some lucky people have fallen from great heights and emerged relatively unscathed, many people have fallen off stepladders and ended up badly hurt. Earlier this month, The Construction Index published a story about two BT employees, both of whom fell from stepladders while at work and suffered injuries of varying severity. The first man lost his senses of smell and taste; the second was left with long term memory problems, partial vision loss, and multiple fractures to his skull and spine. These two incidents occurred within hours of one another; BT eventually pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches and ended up paying a fine of £600,000 (plus costs of £60,000).

This unfortunate story deftly illustrates the importance of height safety measures. Never assume that you/your workers will be safe because 'it's not that high' - be sure to assess the risks properly and take any measures necessary to minimise the risk of an accident.

Click here to browse SafetyLiftinGear's full range of height safety equipment.

06May2016

Failure to Provide Height Safety Gear Results in a Hefty Fine

robin health & safety

Once again, a demolition company from Nottingham has been fined for breeching height safety procedures, for allowing their employees to work on a roof without any fall prevention measures in place.

Every day we check the news in the world of health and safety, and find it staggering how many companies are willing to disregard the safety of their employees. Luckily, this case did not lead to a fatal accident or serious injury, but this most certainly could have been the case if the issue had been left undetected.

The company in question were removing tiles from a steep roof without any form of PPE or fall arrest equipment, which meant that the individuals could have come to serious harm, had they fallen and slipped whilst carrying out the work. Those responsible were fined £6,000 by the courts, and were ordered to pay £765 in costs, although the financial debt is nothing compared to the guilt they would have had to endure if something had gone wrong.

Whether it's in the form of bank note, or worse, the life of an unsuspecting worker, those who ignore height safety will have to pay out eventually. That's why it's important to invest in proper height safety gear, to save money and lives, as well as securing your company's reputation.

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