A fall from height is one of the most common reasons for a workplace fatality – be sure to take the time today to check that everyone on your site is protected from falling into pits and other work spaces.
- Do a risk assessment to determine where your fall from height hazards exist. Think about steps, pits, holes and other open areas, and how people could fall into them when working on or near them. Install guard rails and barriers, and hand-holds on stairs.
- Mark the edges of all pits and level changes with bright paint. Cover all open pits with boards that are secured down to prevent them moving. Check that coverings can take the weight of anything intended to be put on it.
- Ensure good levels of lighting at all times, both inside and outside buildings. Highlight areas where people could fall with signage and prevent unauthorised access. Escort visitors at all times to prevent them wandering into dangerous areas.
- Discuss falls from height with workers on induction, and at regular intervals such as during toolbox talks. Supervise worker activities and undertake regular inspections of work areas to ensure that the controls identified in risk assessments relating to falls are being implemented and used correctly.
- Look at ways of preventing workers from walking backwards – for example, when guiding vehicles or plant into inspection areas – by avoiding the need for vehicles to reverse. Use designated one-way routes where possible.
Contact Walker Health and Safety Services Limited should you require assistance.
Accident can be prevented, if the correct procedures are in place . Check today that your workers are protected when working at height.
Tips to Help Prevent Work at Height Accidents
- Undertake a risk assessment to work out the hazards associated with each task involving work at height. Determine how workers could fall, be struck or knocked over, and how items could fall from above onto workers and others at ground level.
- Whenever possible, avoid the need for working at height by completing the work from ground level, such as by using extendable tools and equipment. If this cannot be done, think about how best to prevent a fall from happening, for example by the use of edge protection and worker restraint systems. If the risk still remains, look to minimise the distance someone could fall by using safety nets or similar.
- Segregate vehicles from work at height activities by using fixed barriers. Ensure that activities are co-ordinated and that vehicles operate at a different time to the work at height activity if there is a risk of collision or contact.
- Check you have planned the work properly and that there is a safe system of work in place for workers to follow. Ensure the work at height is adequately supervised by a competent person with knowledge of the risks.
- Train workers in the use of work at height equipment and safety measures, and discuss the contents of your risk assessments with them, including the importance of implementing the controls provided to reduce identified risks.
Contact Walker Health and Safety Services Limited if you require assistance.
Hand and arm injuries caused by machinery parts are far too common, even in this day and age. Take the time today to check all of your machines for hazards, and ensure that any moving parts are properly guarded.
- Do a risk assessment to identify the hazards presented by each of the machines on site. See where a worker could get their hand pulled in by a rotating blade or roller, where a sharp blade could cut them, or where a machinery part could crush them, for example.
- Prevent access to these parts where possible, for example by enclosing the machine. Paint lines around machines to show workers the safe areas in which they should stand. Provide emergency stop buttons in suitable places and ensure they are visible and working correctly. Use interlocks where feasible on machine doors to stop the process should the doors be opened during the machine cycle.
- Use suitable guarding on areas that are hard to fully enclose. Use fixed, durable guards that cannot be easily removed.
- Train workers on the hazards identified and on how to use control measures such as guarding. Make sure they know not to remove any guarding without permission, and that the machine must be isolated from the power source first.
- Prepare in advance for maintenance and cleaning activities. Plan how workers should undertake these roles, and how guarding or other controls are to be safely removed. Use a checklist to verify that all controls are back in place and working correctly before the machine is put back into use.
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Asbestos-related diseases kill many people each year, yet these deaths could be prevented if the correct controls are implemented. Where necessary, only ever use licensed contractors to do removal work involving asbestos in your workplace, and ensure that the work is properly planned.
Tips to Ensure Asbestos Removals on Your Premises are Undertaken Safely- Before undertaking any work, first be sure you know where all of your ACM are and that they actually need to be removed in the first place. If the ACM is in a good condition, it may be a better option to leave it in situ and manage it by regularly checking its condition. Review your situation on an annual basis at least to see if the condition of the material has changed.
- Check that the contractor you intend to use has the necessary licence for the type of ACM you need removed – check the HSE website for more information. Ask for references and recommendations from other companies if you are not sure where to start looking.
- Ask the contractor for proof of training for individuals, and for the company’s experience in the type of job you want them to do.
- View the contractors plan for the removals. Check that the asbestos removal company has undertaken a risk assessment and has produced a method statement which details how the work will be done safely and what control measures will be introduced, including how areas will be contained to prevent the spread of fibres, the emergency procedures if something goes wrong, and the personal protective equipment to be used. Enquire also about how the clean-up will be managed safely.
- Share your building plans and asbestos management plans with the contractor so that they can satisfy themselves that they know the layout of the site, and can ask any relevant questions about the job.
Contact us if you require assistance.
Ladders are often useful pieces of equipment for short-term, low risk jobs, but serious (if not fatal) accidents can occur if they are not used correctly. Take the time before starting any job to check that your ladder procedures are fit for purpose.
Tips to Ensure Ladder Jobs are Carried Out Safely
- Do a risk assessment for the task you intend to carry out that involves working at height. From looking at the risks involved, check whether a ladder is the correct piece of access equipment to use. As a general rule, ladders should be used for no more than 30 minutes duration for low risk work, perhaps in hard to reach places where other access equipment would not fit.
- Plan the work properly and include step-by-step instructions for workers to follow. Communicate to workers and contractors what jobs can be carried out on ladders, and the conditions under which they can or can’t be used – for example, preventing their use outside in windy weather.
- Train workers to use ladders safely. Make sure they know to position them correctly on the ground to ensure stability, and that they know to check the floor for contaminants such as oil first.
- Ensure workers know how to check ladders before each use, to look for any faults such as missing rungs, broken platforms or damaged feet. Make sure they are clear on how to report these ladders as faulty straight away so that the equipment can be fixed or disposed of accordingly.
- Supervise workers who use ladders and make sure they maintain three points of contact on the ladder at all times.
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