The ultimate hazard of working at height is, of course, falling. You do not have to fall from a great height to injure yourself. The severity of your injury is determined by many factors including weight, age, how you land, and the surface you fall on.

When we hear the phrase ‘working at height’ it’s common to assume this refers to working on roofs or skyscrapers, but actually, 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".

If you or someone you employ is in ANY way capable of falling from a height and sustaining an injury, you must take the proper safety precautions. When trying to determine the risks of your workplace it may be necessary to do a height risk assessment. You can read more about this here: Working at Height Risk Assessment

Regardless of the height you work at, it’s important to remember that catastrophic injuries or even death can happen from falls of only a few feet. The hazards of working at height should not be underestimated, and it’s important to provide the proper equipment to ensure safety.

Common hazards of working at height

While falling is most likely the most common hazard of working at height, there are others to be aware of. These include:

• Dropping/falling equipment - Falling equipment can be fatal. It is vital that the proper height safety equipment is used to stop workers from being able to drop objects like tools from height.
  
  
• Insufficient PPE - If you or your workers are not wearing the required protective clothing, they are at risk of injury. Protective equipment such as hard hats can help to keep you or your employees safe.
  
  
• Lack of/poor risk assessment - A thorough risk assessment will identify and analyse any potential hazards to best prepare workers in the event of an incident. Inadequate risk assessment put everyone involved at risk.
  
  
• Inexperience - Mistakes happen, but knowingly allowing inexperienced members of staff to carry out tasks at height is extremely dangerous.

We provide various equipment to reduce the risk of falling such as safety harnesses, fall arrest blocks, and ladder safety kits.

Full Range of Height Safety Equipment 

If you have any further queries about how to keep you or anyone else safe from the hazards of working at height, feel free to get in touch. Our helpful team is more than happy to give you advice.

Here at SafetyLiftinGear we specialise in a whole plethora of height safety equipment, but before you get up there and start work, we understand that you're going to need to know how to use your height safety equipment properly in order to prevent any accidents or fatalities - and that's where our Working at Heights training course can help.

Our Working at Heights Course provides essential training for anyone that works at height, as well as highly recommended for supervisors, managers, the appointed personnel that have to meet health and safety duties, and business owners.

This training course is delivered by The Training Societi in partnership with us. The Training Societi are a Bristol based training consultancy that specialise in workplace health and safety, and they deliver a range of training courses - such as the course you can find in our safety training courses category. 

The Working at Heights training course will take place in Bristol, and will take an entire day to complete. The course consists of the following:

• Health and Safety Laws and Regulations
• The responsibilities of employees and employers
• Definition of Work at Height
• The four basic principles to planning work at height following HSE guidelines
• The different types of equipment, and how to select the correct equipment
• Five steps of conducting and recording a risk assessment
• Advice on how to collate method statements 
• Preventative and protective control measures 
• Test paper, questions, handouts and a review

The course is based around HSE guidelines; delivered by a friendly and experienced consultant in a comfortable environment; provides you with bespoke advice that meet your company's requirements; and it'll provides you with peace of mind - it keeps you, your employees and your business safe and legal. Once you have completed the course, you will be provided with a Training Societi certificate and photographic ID card with a 5 year expiry.

Please contact us for course details >>

A safety harness is a system of restraints that prevent the wearer from falling from a height. By wearing the belt or harness the risk of injury from a fall is greatly reduced.
The harness allows the user to attach themselves to a stationary object, therefore ensuring they will not hit the ground in the event of a fall. Falling from a height is one of the most common causes of personal injury in the workplace, so it is very important to make sure you are properly equipped when working up high.

Working at height is one of the main causes of major injuries and fatalities in the construction industry; and common cases include falls from ladders, rooftops and fragile surfaces. HSE defines work at height as "work in any place where, if there were no precautions in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury".

To prevent any major or fatal injuries from happening when working at height, it's important that a risk assessment is put in place. A risk assessment is an examination of what in your workplace could cause harm, so you're able to put the right precautions in place to make sure that any work at height is properly planned, supervised and carried out in a safe manner. By law you're required to assess the risks in the workplace so that you can put a plan in place to control the risks. 

With that in mind. If you're starting to create a risk assessment, here are some steps you should follow in order to ensure your assessment is accurate and as thorough as possible:

Step 1: Identifying the Potential Hazards

This is arguably one of the most important steps for creating your your risk assessment. When identifying the hazards in your workplace, it's important to think about the activities, processes and/or substances that are used in your workplace that could injure or harm your employees' health. Here are some tips to help you identify potential hazards:

• Observe the workplace.
• Check manufacturers' instructions.
• Look through your accident book.
• Think about long-term hazards to health - for example: exposure to a high level of noise or harmful substances.
• Gather feedback from employees.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 state that the following need to be considered in your risk assessment: 

• The distance and effects of any potential falls.
• The duration and frequency of use of work equipment, and whether the work equipment is appropriate for the work that is about to be performed.
• Does the work equipment allow passage without risks.
• The need for easy and safe evacuation in case of an emergency .
• The working condition and the risks to people where work equipment is to be used.

Step 2:  Deciding who may be harmed and how

It's important when conducting a risk assessment that you think about which people are at risk, and how they might be harmed. For each hazard you need make sure it is clear which group of people might be harmed, as this will help you identify the best way of controlling the risks. It's important to make sure you consider every person in the work area:

• Employees.
• Visitors.
• Contractors.
• Maintenance workers.
• Members of the public.
• If you share a workplace with another business, consider how each of your work affects yours, and their workers.

Step 3: Evaluate the Risks

Having identified the potential hazards, you now have to identify the level of the risk and what precautions you need to put in place. You are not expected to eliminate all risks; but you need to make sure you're aware of them, and the things you must do to manage and prevent them. Your risk assessment should only include what you're expected to know - you are not responsible for anticipating unforeseeable risks. 

Look at what you're already doing, and what control measures you have in place - and evaluate if it's possible to get rid of the hazard? And if not; how can you control the risks to reduce the chances of it doing any harm.

Some practical steps you should consider when preventing the risks of hazards:

• Issue the correct personal protective equipment.
• Preventing access to the hazards.
• Ensuring that all workers are trained to ensure that they understand the hazards and the precautions to be taken.
• Trying a less risky option.
• Organising work to reduce any exposure to the hazard.
• Providing welfare facilities such as first aid and washing facilities.

Step 4: Record Your Findings 

When you're recording your findings it's important that you keep it simple and that it's easy to read. An accurate risk assessment should show the following:

• A proper check has been made.
• You have shown who might be affected.
• You have dealt with the hazards and have taken in account who might of been affected.
• The precautions are sensible and that the remaining risk is low.
• You have involved all your employees during this process. 

To prevent any confusion, it's important that you use a new risk assessment sheet for each work place and assessment you complete. You must ensure that you have dated the risk assessment; that you have recorded details of the person who took the assessment, and that you have recorded any action due-dates and completion dates.

Step 5: Review & Update Your Assessment

Workplaces are always changing and bringing in new equipment, substances and procedures that could possibly lead to new hazards. So, it's important that you review what your risk assessments every 6-12 months.  It's important to check the following:

• Any significant changes at your workplace?
• Are there any improvements you need to make?
• Have your workers noticed a problem?
• Have you learnt anything from recent accidents?

When working with height it's always important that the correct safety measures are put in place. That's why we supply a comprehensive range of Height Safety Equipment that are designed to ensure the maximum level of protection, while also providing an assuring level of comfort too. To view our range of height safety equipment, please click here.

Why risk breaching safety regulations?

Why risk breaching safety regulations?