Safety & Working at Height

When working at height in the UK, all professional organisations follow and refer to the Working at Height regulations which are there to help protect the workforce and employers.

Working at Height Regulations 2005

In summary the working at height regulations place duties on employers, building owners and anyone else who to some extent controls work at height.

The ‘duty-holder’ is responsible for minimising risk, by following the ‘Hierarchy for managing and selecting equipment for Work at Height’.

Where working at height cannot be avoided, the regulations require that duty holders ensure:

• All work at height is properly planned, supervised, and carried out by competent persons – including planning for emergencies and rescue.
• Their employees must receive relevant information, instruction and training on the safe use of equipment and how to spot and report defects.
• Employers must follow the hierarchy of controls.
• Equipment for work at height is appropriately inspected.
• Must do all that is reasonably practicable to prevent anyone falling.

Unfortunately in the UK – Falls from height still remain the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of major injury.

With these facts and statistics – Health and Safety law is designed to ensure duty holders make doubly sure things are right.

If you are a Duty Holder, somebody’s erroneous action (for whom you have responsibility) could put you in court as a defendant with the prospect of a prison sentence.

So when it comes to Working at Height – you need to be sure of who you recruit…

Working at Height with Central High Rise

For many clients Working at Height projects are a worry, so they trust Central High Rise as their Working at Height partner because we offer:-

Experience and Expertise  At Central High Rise we pride ourselves on our industry experience and expertise, working with all our clients to understand their site safe working practices and methodology.

Legal Requirements  We aim to provide all the necessary safe working documentation including, health & safety risk assessments, access requirements, methods statements etc, required to help keep the client and ourselves legally compliant and safe.

Safety and Awareness  Our team is there to help manage projects safely and ensure that our clients are aware yet comfortable with their responsibilities to employees, contractors and sub contractors.

Safety 1st  As safety always comes first at Central High Rise, aside from the legislation required for Working at Height which is mandatory, Central High Rise have developed an industry leading combination of practical methodologies to keep staff safe in their work tasks.

Shared Mental Model   

The concept of the Shared Mental Model encapsulates the fundamental safety areas when Working at Height, these are Behavioural Safety, Supervisory Training and the use of a Buddy System.

The Shared Mental Model helps to ensure that all members of a works team share a clear view of the methods, techniques, roles & responsibilities required to carry out their work tasks safely and on a continuous basis.

The Shared Mental Model on any project and tasks within that project can be established and can then be driven by the Buddy System where team members monitor each other. The team can uphold standards, raise standards and can challenge unsafe behaviour.

Behaviour and Safety at Height (B.A.S.H.)     

Working at height is a dynamic and an extremely dangerous activity.

Gravity can neither be switched off nor be isolated. The results of a fall can either kill or can seriously injure. The activity of working at height can be regarded as being always precarious. Situational awareness feeds perception of risk.

It is impossible for a human to maintain continual self awareness, no one person can behave so perfectly, BUT A TEAM CAN BE ‘NEAR’ PERFECT AND CAN ALWAYS BE PERFECTED.

Supervisory Training   

At Central High Rise nobody is considered for a supervisory role until they have at least 5 years experience, have received both comprehensive and rounded training, and then not least, can command the respect of the men.

Safe Industrial Climbing Criteria    

Working at height is a dynamic and dangerous activity. Safe behaviour can be augmented by correct coding and selection of equipment and means. The need for situational awareness and the critical function of safe behaviour can be safely reduced when reliance on equipment and can be viably increased notwithstanding the continual need for compliance.

Industrial Climbing is the activity of working at height, usually working in temporary work stations in almost all situations and geometries. Working at height is a dynamic and continuous process of access, egress and tasks, including hoisting and handling.

A frequent characteristic of Industrial Climbing is that access and egress is usually routed via the structure or products which are attached to that structure. Correct selection by assessment is vital.