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Preventing falls from height requires sensible risk management, a principle that
underpins the framework of Working at Height Regulations 2005 (WAHR) and all
other health and safety legislation. Sensible risk management is all about the
practical steps employers should be taking to protect the health and safety of their
workers.
The WAHR set out a simple hierarchy for managing work at height and selecting
equipment for use when carrying out work at height, namely:
• Use appropriate equipment or take other steps to protect against falls where
working at height cannot be avoided.
Dutyholders’ Responsibilities
The WAHR specifically require dutyholders (employers, the self employed and any
person who may contract others to work at height) to ensure: -
• All work at height takes account of weather conditions that could endanger
health and safety.
• Take account of the risk assessment carried out under Regulation 3 of the
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Training
A major element of HSE’s ‘Shattered Lives’ campaign, which aims to highlight the
potentially devastating consequences of simple slips, trips and falls in the workplace,
including falls from height - see www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives , is raising awareness of
the clear connection between training and competency when working at height. The
campaign highlights the range of skills and knowledge that an HSE or local authority
inspector looks for when assessing competency in the workplace.
Inspection
The WAHR are very specific about inspection, which is defined by Regulation 12(10) as
'such visual or more rigorous inspection by a competent person as is appropriate for
safety purposes (including) any testing appropriate for those purposes'.
Fragile Surfaces
The regulations define a fragile surface as 'a surface which would be liable to fail if any
reasonably foreseeable loading were to be applied to it.
You must ensure that no one working under your control goes onto or near a fragile
surface unless that is the only 'reasonably practicable' way for the worker to carry out the
task safely - bearing in mind the demands of the task, the equipment being used and the
working environment.
• Where a risk of a person at work falling remains, do all that is 'reasonably practicable’
to ensure suitable and sufficient measures are implemented to minimise the distance
and consequences of a fall.
Weather
Clearly the weather is an important factor in working at height and the regulations are
very clear at this point. You must ensure that any work at height is postponed if weather
conditions present a danger to the health and safety of workers (this does not apply to
the emergency services acting in an emergency).
Working Environment
The WAHR state that you must ensure that the place where work at height is carried
out (including the means of access) is safe and has features to prevent a fall, unless this
would mean that it is not reasonably practicable for the worker to carry out the work
safely (taking into account the demands of the task, equipment and working
environment). Detailed safety requirements covering where work is done at height are
set out in Schedule 1 of the regulations (see below ‘ What do the Schedules Cover’).
Falling Objects
• That nothing is stored is such a way that its movement is likely to injure anyone.
Dutyholders must: -
• Use work equipment or other measures to prevent falls where they cannot avoid
working at height.
• Where they cannot eliminate the risk of a fall, use work equipment or other measures
to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall should one occur.
You must ensure (as far as is reasonably practicable to do so) that each individual
place at which work is to be done at height is checked on every occasion before that
place is used. This involves checking the surface and every parapet, permanent rail
etc.
You must also ensure that any item of a type mentioned in Schedules 2 to 6 of the
regulations is inspected: -
• After it is assembled or installed (or after it has been assembled and installed if
both are required), if its safety depends on how it is assembled or installed.
• If anyone working under your control may go onto or near a practicable' if any
risk of a fall remains, to minimise the distance and effect of a fall.
• If anyone working under your control may go onto or near a fragile surface, you
must do all that is 'reasonably practicable' to make them aware of the danger,
preferably by prominent warning notices fixed at the approaches to the danger
zone.
Employees’ Responsibilities
• That whilst at work report to the employer any activity or defect relating to work
at height which they know is likely to endanger the safety of themselves or
others.
• They use all work equipment or safety devices provided to them for work at
height by the employer, or by a person under whose control they work, in
accordance with -
(a) any training in the use of the work equipment or device concerned
which have been received by him; and
(b) the instructions respecting that use which have been provided to him
by that employer or person in compliance with the requirements and
prohibitions imposed upon that employer or person by or under the
relevant statutory provisions.
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 (as amended): A brief guide. HSE 2006
www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg401.pdf
Formed in 2003, the Access Industry Forum (AIF) is the umbrella organisation for
trade bodies and associations involved in the access industry. Committed to
advancing safety and best practice, it is the collective voice of industry and brings
together organisations with an interest in all types of scaffolding, cradles, rope
access, ladders and powered access. www.accessindustryforum.org.uk
ATLAS
Association of Technical Lighting and Access Specialists
www.atlas-I .org.uk
FASET
Fall Arrest Safety Equipment Training
www.faset.org.uk
IPAF
International Powered Access Federation
www.ipaf.org
IRATA
Industrial Rope Access Trade Association
www.irata.org
LA
Ladder Association
www.ladderassociation.org.uk
NASC
National Access and Scaffolding
Confederation
www.nasc.org.uk