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 Three Ts of Height Safety

The following considerations are absolutely critical for anyone who works at height:

• Tethering. This means ensuring that your tools are securely tethered, either to your person or to a secure fixing that will not allow them to fall. This is what SafetyLiftinGear's tool lanyards are for.
  
  
• Topping. When working at height, do you carry tools, fittings, or other equipment in a work bag? If so, you need to make sure that the bag in question is properly topped; ask yourself what will stop your equipment from falling out if the bag is upturned or inverted, and if the answer is 'nothing', consider buying yourself a new, safer tool bag.

As these unfortunate watermelons found out, even small items (such as nuts and bolts) can do a lot of damage when dropped from height!

• Tagging. The third and final 'T' refers to the proper labelling of tool lanyards and other height safety products. Such items should always be clearly marked to identify the weight capacity of the product in question - exceeding the stated weight capacity can be very dangerous, and clear tagging/labelling ensures that workers will be able check the maximum capacity of their equipment at a glance.

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.

Photo from pexels.com

Ergodyne are a company from the USA - Minnesota, to be precise - with a great reputation for manufacturing "tenacious work gear" (as their logo puts it). Now, we're all about high-quality equipment here at SafetyLiftinGear, and so Ergodyne's super-strong products are right up our street...which is why we've added a selection of the company's tool lanyards to our Height Safety department!

As we've mentioned before, tool lanyards are a must-have for anyone who works at height. Tools and fittings can cause a huge amount of damage if dropped, even if it's from a relatively small height; for example, if you were to drop a spanner whilst working on a ladder, it could seriously injure anyone who happens to be passing underneath at the time.

That's why we at SafetyLifitnGear recommend Ergodyne's Squids® range. These high-calibre tool lanyards are specifically designed to prevent tools from dropping whilst exerting the minimum possible force on the body to which they're attached. Choose from the following products:

• Squids® 3001 Retractable Lanyard (Single carabiner with loop end)
• Squids® 3115 Adjustable Swivel Wrist Tool Lanyard
• Squids® 3026 Accessory Pack (Loops)
• Squids® 3025 Acessory Pack (Carabiners)
• Squids® 3109EXT Tool Lanyard (comes with carabiner)

These tool lanyards and their corresponding accessories are ideal for construction workers, tradesmen, and anyone else who ever works at height. Click here to see SafetyLiftinGear's full range of tool lanyards, or take a look at this video (made by Ergodyne themselves) on how to choose the right tool lanyard:

Height safety is serious business. According to the Health and Safety Executive, falls from height were responsible for more than 20% of  fatal workplace injuries in the UK in 2013/14, as well as for over 15% of all major or specified injuries during that same period.

In spite of these statistics - the numerous deaths, the thousands upon thousands of injuries - far too many British businesses are still neglecting their responsibilities when it comes to working at height. Here are three sobering case studies from this month alone - all were reported on the HSE website within two weeks of time of writing:

Photograph from press.hse.gov.uk

Fatal fall for 60-year-old fenestration worker

Philip Evans (originally from Penarth, South Wales) died in hospital after a 4.5 metre fall, which he suffered whilst working on a store front in Exeter. Mr Evans had been making his way along a glass canopy when he fell through an unguarded gap, which had apparently been created during previous work when a pane of glass had been removed from the canopy and no replacement put in. His employer, London Fenestration Traded Ltd, has now been fined £200,000 with £17,790 costs, as has Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd, the principal contractor for the job in question.

Careless cleaning company fined thousands

Turbo Property and Cleaning Services Ltd - a Sheffield-based company - were found guilty of breaching both the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 this week. Late last year, one of Turbo's employees was found working on "a fragile roof with no protection measures in place"; the company has been fined £2,000 for this violation.

Worker sustains "life-changing injuries" after falling through roof

When Andrew Bannister was told to repair a fragile roof on a farm in Leicestershire, he expressed some concern, but his employer sent him up without any fall protection equipment anyway. What happened next? A 10-metre fall, a painful landing on a concrete floor, and several serious injuries. Mr Bannister (48 years old at the time of the incident in question) was left with a broken neck, a broken back, and three broken ribs after falling through the roof of the barn; he is now permanently reliant upon a walking stick, and has stated, "I will be on pain killers for the rest of my life. The injury has changed my life completely." PK & IF Cobley Ltd were recently fined £75,000 (plus £29,351.88 costs) for failing to prevent the fall.

If these stories of death, injury, and punishment have made you realise that you could be doing more to protect your workers, head over to SafetyLiftinGear's Height Safety Equipment department - we supply a huge variety of safety harnesses, fall prevention systems, edge protection products, and everything else you need to prevent falls from height.

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:

What counts as 'working at height'?

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.

How far can I fall without hurting myself?

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!

What precautions are legally required when working at height?

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.

What should I use to protect my workers?

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.

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:

What counts as 'working at height'?

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.

How far can I fall without hurting myself?

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!

What precautions are legally required when working at height?

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.

What should I use to protect my workers?

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.