Changing attitudes to working at height

Working at height remains the second biggest workplace killer in Great Britain, however, many organisations fail to take the commonsense, practical steps necessary to protect their workers lives.

During the recent intensive construction inspection initiative of small-scale construction sites, more than half (55 percent) of the 735 enforcement notices issued were for unsafe working at height. However, the driver for getting health and safety right on site should not be the threat of an HSE inspector calling, but the safety of your employees and contractors.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 clearly set out the steps dutyholders should be taking. The three key points to think about are:

• Assess work at height risks carefully. Make sure that all work at height is planned, organised and carried out by trained and competent people.

• Follow the hierarchy for managing risks from work at height – take steps to avoid, prevent or reduce the risk

• Choose the most suitable equipment for carrying out the work. Select collective measures, such as mobile elevating work equipment and scaffolding before those which may only mitigate the distance and consequences of a fall, such as nets or airbags. Personal protective equipment should only be selected as a last resort.

Falling through fragile roofing materials accounts for almost a quarter (22 per cent) of the construction deaths, which result from a fall from height.

A roofer was part of a gang who were re-sheeting a large steel portal frame warehouse. Half of the roof was netted underneath. The roofer was moving a sheet from a storage pile at the opposite end of the building and died when he fell through an uncovered fragile roof light in an area of the roof that was not protected by nets.

However, deaths caused by falls through fragile surfaces are, not unique to the construction industry; those working in the maintenance sector are also at risk.

A 50-year-old maintenance worker was killed when he fell through a fragile roof light panel as he was checking roof repair work carried out by other contractors. The covers, which had been provided when the repair work was carried out, had been removed and the roof light panels were unprotected.

It is vital that designers and contractors understand that whatever roofing assembly has been specified, all non-fragile roofs will deteriorate with time and at some point, the assembly will become fragile.

Roofing work also carries risk, especially that undertaken by the smaller contractor on domestic premises. To help improve standards on the smaller jobs, HSE’s Construction Division has already published a leaflet on roof work in its “Busy Builder” leaflet series. It highlights good practice and summarises what precautions should be taken, as a minimum, when carrying out roof repair work

One area potentially overlooked when planning work at height is the designer’s role. The health and safety responsibilities on designers apply on all major construction projects but also on minor building works as well as small projects involving refurbishment and repair work. HSE is encouraging contractors to help designers make projects safer by looking at the lifetime operation of a new building and ensuring there is good communication with the future facilities management to ensure that, for example, if the plant room must be placed on the roof, physical protection is put in place to allow safe access.

Industry, through the Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CONAIC), is supporting HSE in tackling the poor practices used for working and height. The Safety Working Group, which has members from both HSE and industry, aims to change attitudes within the construction industry so that, like driving without a seatbelt, it becomes socially unacceptable to work at height without precautions.

There is a wealth of information available on work at height from HSE at www.hse.gov.uk/falls and from other organisations such as he Advisory Committee for Roofsafety (previously known as the Advisory Committee for Roofwork) Its documents are free to download from their website at: www.roofworkadvice.info

Justine Lee, construction inspector, HSE