FALL ARREST EQUIPMENT - High on the agenda
April 1st 2004

Safety regulations will soon stipulate that working at height starts at 25mm, rather than the 2m previously stated. It is therefore important for anyone working at height, or with staff doing so, to make sure they are up to scratch with all elements of height safety. Mike Baldwin, training manager at the Health & Safety Training Academy looks at some of the issues that will have a major impact when the new regulations bite

While another layer of European bureaucracy might send a cold shiver down the spine, it should be understood that there are about 70 fatalities and 5000 serious injuries in the UK every year caused by falling from height. Action needs to be taken, and the UK government wants to achieve a 10% reduction in deaths by 2008.

With the European Directive on Temporary Working at Height (2001/45/EC) due later this year, any company that uses work equipment at height, such as ladders and scaffolding, will have to conform. And the change to the height threshold is an important point that must be considered in the risk assessment. For example, current risk assessment does not take slippery steps under 2m into account, but this will be necessary under the new rules. When you consider the cost of medical treatment, compensation and time lost for all those injured is estimated to be more than 300 million a year, there are sound economic arguments for tightening regulations.

And with about 3 million workers being affected by the changes from the construction sector through to window cleaners and even office staff it will alter the way many people see health and safety at work, and in that sense, it is one piece of European legislation that should be heartily welcomed.

However, it would appear that there are many companies that have not taken the full ramifications of the impending changes to the regulations on board. No one should be complacent, and there is no guarantee that there will be a transitional period after the rules are introduced. Directors and managers could find themselves on the wrong side of the law, with the HSE more than prepared to shut down sites if inspectors find practices are not up to scratch during spot checks.

A consultative document for the new regulations and supporting guidance has been published by the Health & Safety Commission (HSC) covering the risks from work at height in Great Britain. Designated the Work at Height Regulations (WAHR), HSC accepted contributions from interested parties until April.

The HSC is hoping that the regulations will adopt an approach based on risk management and ensuring the measures taken to comply with the law are proportionate to the risks involved. As far as possible, existing codes of practice or guidance currently in existence would be used.

If a risk assessment shows good practice, this will be accepted. Safe systems of work should be established, and there should be both proper planning and organisation in place. Importantly, this also includes that the correct equipment is chosen and used correctly.

The HSC also hopes to see the bringing together of all the current legal requirements for safe working at height, to make a cohesive, single set of goal-getting regulations that would be flexible enough to apply to all industries and allow for technical innovation. This ambitious project will attempt to cover almost all aspects of working at height in a structured way, from large construction projects to simple tasks, such as climbing a ladder for a job like changing a light bulb.

HSC has been conscious that some scaremongering has occurred in the media where it is perceived that certain basic items will be prescribed. It states in its consultative document It is not true, for example, that the Directive or the regulations set out to ban ladders, nor that we will be absolutely preventing anyone from performing a two-handed task from a stepladder.

It is more important than ever that managers and their personnel working at height understand their responsibilities when it comes to safety. The Health & Safety Training Academy has been set up to help with exactly this, and has the expertise, experience and general know-how to make sure that working at height is as safe as possible and complies with the new regulations. It is a member of various national and international bodies, including the British Safety Council, British Safety Industries Federation, Protection Safety Manufacturers Association, and the Height & Safety Group.

The HSTA also offers the Academys know-how and experience as a package for others to run similar training schemes. This transferrable package is one way that companies will be able to take major strides forward in the realm of height safety.

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