What do Employers need to do?
It is up to employers to ensure that work at height is properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out safely. This means that the planning, organisation and supervision also needs to be carried out by competent people.
How employers should avoid risks
Employers should avoid risks by:
- Authorising working at height only when necessary;
- Take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent any person falling a distance which would cause personal injury;
- Work from an existing place of work using existing equipment or, if this is not possible, providing work equipment to prevent a fall occurring
Where there is a risk of falling, employers should provide work equipment to minimise the distance and consequences (or just consequences if the distance is unavoidable) and provide training to reduce falling from a distance which is likely to cause an injury.
What equipment should employers provide?
Employers should provide collective protection measures over personal ones.
They should:
- Take notice of the working conditions where the equipment is used;
- The distance and consequences of a potential fall;
- How long and what the equipment is used for;
- The distance for access to the equipment;
- The need for a quick rescue in an emergency and;
- Risks from installing or removing the equipment
The equipment itself should have collective safety installations such as guard-rails or barriers. Where reasonably practicable employers should inspect protection features to stop a fall before use.
Work equipment should be inspected regularly and each time that something could have compromised the safety of the work equipment.
What about working near or on fragile surfaces?
Employers should ensure that no person at work passes near, works on or crosses with a fragile surface where it is possible to do the work without doing so. Where it is not practicable to carry out work safely without coming into contact with a fragile surface, employers should ensure that safety measures such as barriers are in place. Where there is a risk of falling, suitable measures should be taken to reduce the distance and consequences of the fall.
Warning notices should be in place where people could come into contact with a fragile surface or, if this is not possible, they should be made aware of it by other means.
Falling objects
Employers should take steps to avoid falling objects or materials which could cause personal injury, ensure that nothing is dropped or tipped where it is likely to cause someone injury and store materials in a way where they will not tip, fall or collapse.
Dangerous Areas
Employers should ensure that areas in which there is a danger of falling from a distance or being struck by an object is equipped with devices stopping unauthorised persons from entering the area and the area is indicated clearly.
What employers should do
Employees should report to their manager any defect or activity which may endanger the safety of himself or another person when working at height.
Employees should use any work equipment in accordance with the training they have received and respect instructions on the use of it by their employer which has been imposed on them by another statutory provision (another act basically).