Falls from height remain one of the biggest causes of injury and fatalities in the workplace, with the TT Club warning that the distance of the drop need not always be as great as imagined to cause harm.
Typically, in the international context there is no specific minimum height above which regulations apply and each jurisdiction has its own requirements. Similarly, the need for fall protection equipment varies.
Operators across the supply chain therefore need to be familiar with varied local regulations in every location at which they have employees.
Working at height remains one of the biggest causes of fatality and major injury in the workplace. The common perception is that these relate to falls from ladders or through fragile surfaces, where workers are far from the surface below. This is not always the case
comments Mike Yarwood, TT’s Managing Director, Loss Prevention, highlighting that “it might come as a shock to learn that a man died falling just a meter and a half from within a standard shipping container sited on a road trailer.”
As Mr. Yarwood further explains, the deceased worker was inside an open top container preparing access for an overhead crane to remove the cargo of steel girders. He fell from the container because the rear doors of the unit were open.
Although the company had various generic risk assessments and safe working method statements, it had not put in place simple control measures to prevent or mitigate a fall from the rear of this container. The tragedy could have been averted.
A court fined the company £200,000 (US$236,000) plus costs,. But the penalty could have been far greater and potentially unlimited. The case highlights a key issue – many haulage firms and warehouse operations may not view work at the back of an open trailer or container on wheels as a ‘working at height’ activity
The case also highlights a key issue; the fact that many haulage firms and warehouse operations may not view work at the back of an open trailer or container on wheels as a ‘working at height’ activity.
As protecting the workforce must be a priority, TT has summarised a seven-step course of action to help:
- Conduct a working at height risk assessment
- Implement working at height training
- Invest in personal protective equipment (PPE) for working at height
- Complete safety equipment maintenance
- Implement a personal safety system
- Update and review your procedures
- Record everything
As with all risk mitigation, awareness of the dangers is the primary necessity. After that a common-sense approach is the best – where work at height cannot be easily avoided, take action to prevent falls with guard rails etc
concludes Mr. Yarwood.
