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Safe Working at Height

Mark Denvir

ARCH

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NI Statistics

• 2009-2010 extremely low fatality statistics

• Falls from height still the 3rd leading cause of fatalities in Northern Ireland

• 12 fatalities over past 5 years

• Significant cause of injury

• 31% of all reported injuries in 2009-2010

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UK Statistics 09/10

FATAL MAJOR INJURY +3 DAY INJURY TOTAL

SLIP, TRIPS AND FALLS – SAME LEVEL

4 10,561 23,088 33,653

<2M FALLS 5 2963 4825 7793

>2M FALLS 12 475 295 783

UNKNOWN HEIGHT

5 762 1156 1923

TOTAL 26 14,761 29,365 44,152

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Regulations

• Work at Height Regulation 2005 – Amended 2007

• Establishes framework for safe working at height

• Hierarchy of control

• Removal of 2 metre rule

• Revoked regulation 13(1) to (4) of the Welfare regulation (fixed ladders)

• Incident trend on decline since adoption of the regulation

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• Work at height means:

– Working or accessing any place, including a place at or below ground level where a fall could result in injury

– Does not include stairways in a permanent workplace

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Hierarchy of Control

1. Avoid work at height

2. Carry out work from an existing place of work

3. Work equipment which prevents a fall

4. Work equipment which minimises the height and consequences of a fall

5. Work equipment which minimises the consequences of a fall

6. Information, training and supervision

7. Collective protection before personal protection

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Avoid Work at height

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Existing Safe Place of Work

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Equipment for Preventing Falls

Collective Personal

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Minimise height and consequences

Collective Personal

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Minimise Consequences

Collective Personal

>2 metre fall distance

Lifejackets

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Training, Information and Supervision

• Ladders have not been banned

• Work must be:

– Short duration

– Light duty

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Equipment

• Users must receive suitable and sufficient training on use care and inspection of equipment

• Work at height equipment should undergo a thorough exam by a competent person every 6 months

• Textile items used in a arduous environment: 3 months (building sites as per HSE)

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Rescue

• If using a fall arrest system you must have a rescue plan

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Suspension Intolerance

• What is suspension intolerance?

• Casualty needs to be brought to the ground as quickly as possible

• Waiting for the fire brigade is not sufficient

• 2009 HSE report covers first aid guidance

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Rope Access

• Can provide a very safe way of carrying out work at height

• Important to understand the standards for rope access

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IRATA • Extensive training

• Qualified supervision

• International code of practice

• Only globally recognised standard

• Logged experience

• Quality audits for member companies

• Reportable incident rate of 4 per 100,000hrs

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BS7985:2002

• Based on IRATA guidelines

• Widely misinterpreted and misapplied

• No external quality audits

• Not intended to be a training standard

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Questions from HSE

• Do you have employees working at height?

• How do you manage work at height?

• Do you have a working at height policy?

• Do your employees have suitable and sufficient training to work at height and use equipment?

• If you are using fall arrest systems, do you have a rescue plan?

– 999 is not suitable and sufficient

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