The new Work at Height Regulations, due to come
into effect in 2005, will bring together the existing legal duties
on work at height in a bid to help cut the single biggest cause of
workplace deaths in Great Britain.
On average between 40 and 50 people die and nearly 4,000 suffer serious injury
a year as a result of a fall from height in the workplace. Falls from height
are the most common cause of fatal injury and the second most common cause of
major injury to employees, accounting for 15% of all such injuries.
The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) is so concerned about these incidents
that it has made reducing falls from height one of its nine Priority Programmes.
Experience shows that these events usually arise due to poor management control
rather than because of equipment failure.
Common factors include:
• Failure to recognise a problem.
• Failure to ensure that safe systems of work are followed.
• Failure to provide safe systems of work.
• Inadequate information, instruction, training or supervision provided.
• Failure to use appropriate equipment.
• Failure to provide safe plant/equipment.
Will the regulations affect my business?
According to the HSC, the new regulations would 'affect every business in Great
Britain, as virtually all perform work at height in some fashion - from major
construction projects to the simple task of climbing a ladder to change a light
bulb'.
Control the risks
The new regulations will include minimum requirements for the selection and use
of work equipment for all work at height - including platforms, scaffolding,
ladders and rope access systems - as well as setting out a hierarchical approach
for employers to follow when choosing such equipment.
The HSC makes it clear that many of the requirements of the regulations are not
new, and are intended instead to reflect existing good practice in construction
and other industries. In fact, the HSC says that the new regulations are designed
to make it easier for employers to control the risks from working at height by
bringing all legal requirements for work at heights - for example, those contained
in the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and the Construction
(Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 (CHSWR) - into one place.
Under the new regulations, however, some legal duties that currently only apply
to construction work would be extended to cover a wider range of work activities,
such as window cleaning, working on the back of a lorry and erecting advertising
hoardings.
Employers would be required to:
• avoid work at height where reasonably practicable;
• prevent falls from any work at height that cannot be avoided; and
• put in place control measures to mitigate the consequences of any fall
that does happen.
Employers would also have to establish safe systems of work for:
• selecting suitable work equipment to perform work at height;
• organising and performing work at height; and
• protecting people from the consequences of work at height.
The new regulations would cover all work activities where there is a need to
control a risk of falling a distance liable to cause personal injury - regardless
of the work equipment being used; the length of time that the worker is at a
height; or the height the work is being carried out at.
The new regulations adopt a risk-based approach to working at height and propose
that the following three key steps be considered before carrying out work at
height:
• If you can avoid the need to work at height then do so – with a
little planning many activities can be conducted safely from the
ground;
• Where you can’t avoid working at height then you must take steps
to prevent falls by either working from a safe place of work at height,
or if this is not available, by selecting the most suitable equipment for
working at height. You should take into consideration the risks and factors such
as the duration of the work and the environment in which
the equipment is to be used; and
• If there is any remaining risk of a fall you should take steps to mitigate
the effect, for example by using fall arrest equipment.
Risk assessment is the key to the proper planning and organisation of all work
at height and should inform the selection and use of appropriate equipment.
Further details regarding the new Work at Height Regulations can be obtained
by accessing the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website at: www.hse.gov.uk/falls/index.htm
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