Essential protection for maintenance engineers
December 4th 2009 Work at height is an essential part of many jobs including maintenance of air conditioning units, CCTV and electrical equipment, but that does not mean that the person carrying out the work is fully aware of the risk. Anyone who contracts others to access a roof has a legal duty to ensure that the correct safety measures are in place, so before work at height is undertaken, it is essential that an assessment of the work is carried out by a competent person.
Under the Work at Height Regulations 2005, this means following a simple hierarchy for managing and selecting equipment, starting with whether the risk can be eliminated, if not what measures are required to prevent a fall and how to limit the distance and consequences of a fall.
When selecting work equipment or other methods to prevent or minimise a fall, collective measures including guardrails must be considered before personal fall protection such as lanyards and fall arrest equipment. For example, if plant units are positioned within 2m of the edge of the roof, edge protection should be installed. This would preferably be combined with demarcation (not painted lines or bunting), to safely guide the worker from the point of entry onto the roof and to the point of exit.
Installing equipment will not necessarily make work at height safe, training and supervision must also be provided so that people fully understand the risks and know how to use the equipment. Only then will companies be able to limit the dangers associated with working at height.
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