News
Health & Safety Update (April 2010)
Working at height-again!
In 2009, more than 4,000 employees suffered major injuries after
falling from height at work, and 21 workers in the construction
industry died.
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 came into force on 6 April
2005. The Regulations introduce a hierarchy for use when planning
and risk assessing work at height. Duty holders should consider how
to avoid work at height. If this is not possible, they should take
steps to prevent a fall occurring. Where they cannot prevent a
fall, they should take steps to minimise the distance and
consequences of a fall.
Working at height is defined as 'work in any place, including a
place at or below ground level, or obtaining access to or egress
from such a place, while at work, except by a staircase where, if
suitable measures were not taken, a person could fall a distance
likely to cause personal injury'. This means that anyone
undertaking ANY work where they could fall is working at height and
therefore the risks this poses must be taken into consideration and
properly controlled as far as is reasonably practicable.
For work at height which is not simple low risk work, it is
advisable for employers and those in control of workplaces
including construction sites, to have in place a formal
authorisation procedure which ensures that a risk assessment is
documented and all correct safety precautions have been implemented
by employees and contractors, prior to work at height
starting. This is known as a permit to work system - a formal
written system used to control certain types of work that are
potentially hazardous, such as work at height.