Avoid the falls of working at height

The best way to avoid working at height, is not to! If you can avoid it, then do so. For example many window cleaners now use a reach and wash system to avoid climbing ladders all day long. Where this cannot be achieved alternative methods are used, such as cradles, cherry pickers, and self cleaning windows.

But it is not just window cleaners that have to work at height, many other people need to carry out work at height.

How can I work at height safely?

• Make sure an appropriate risk assessment is carried out before you begin the work.
• Plan the work, and make sure it is carried out be competent persons.
• Follow the hierarchy for managing risks from work at height, take steps to avoid, prevent or reduce the risks.
• Make sure that staff are trained about the risks and dangers of working at height.
• Choose the right work equipment, and select measures to prevent falls, such as guardrails and working platforms, before other measures which may only mitigate the risks (nets, airbags), or those which may only provide personal protection from a fall.

What can go wrong working at height?

An Evesham horticultural nursery has been fined after a worker suffered serious head injuries and fractured his hand when he fell through a glasshouse roof.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the company following the incident at the company’s premises on 4 December 2009.  Worcester Magistrates’ Court heard how the 21-year-old man, who does not want to be named, was cleaning a valley gutter between two roofs on a glasshouse when he fell about three metres through the glass, landing on a concrete floor. He suffered concussion with blood on the brain, fractured his hand and sustained other cuts and bruises, and could not work for three months after the incident.

HSE’s investigation into the incident found the company had taken no measures to prevent workers falling from the glasshouse roofs and did not understand the risks involved when working at height. In addition, the injured man had been inadequately trained, by an employee who was not trained in working at height himself.

The company pleaded guilty today to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £6,835 costs.