Working at Height Control Measures

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Working at Height Control Measures

What Are Control Measures?

A control measure is any course of action taken with the intent of eliminating the risk of hazards, and reducing workers’ exposure to them.

The most effective control measure is one that completely eliminates the risk of a hazard. A good example would be replacing a work at height task with another task that is performed at ground level. This can be possible by using extendable tools. This way, window cleaners would be able to reach windows in higher levels, while avoiding additional safety risks.

There are instances when workers cannot avoid working at height, and the job cannot be completed from the ground or remotely. If this is the case, then the control measures must include setting the time that workers spend doing their task from height. Employers must also provide workers with appropriate training for the job, and make sure that they are equipped with PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that are appropriate for their assigned tasks. Safety features like safety nets must also be set up.

The right solution will depend on the workers involved, the project, and other prevailing circumstances. An effective control measure today may no longer be applicable tomorrow. It may change over time. Thus, it is imperative that you review your risk assessments on a regular and ongoing basis.

Choosing the Appropriate Equipment for the Job

The rule of thumb is to pick passive and collective safety measure forms over personal forms like PPE or measures that are contingent on workers’ work behavior.

For instance, safety railings do not require any action from employees, except refraining from climbing over them. Safety nets will work, and it doesn’t matter whether or not an individual falling into the net is observing a set protocol.

When performing work tasks at height, it’s recommended the safety planner refer to the Hierarchy of Fall Protection. This hierarchy acts as an easy reference for what control measures look like in a fall protection setting, specifically.

There was a reported case of a worker who was cleaning extraction fans in a certain poultry facility. He fell from a height of 3 meters – from a roof that was unguarded. The worker sustained permanent spinal injuries. A safety harness or roof edge protection would have prevented the unfortunate incident or the worker might have sustained less severe injuries. There’s a lot of other safety measures that could have resulted to a better outcome if only they were observed.

When trying to prevent accidents, it is crucial to pick the right equipment for jobs at height. It is vital to have trained and competent personnel inspect all access equipment before and after every use.

When choosing access equipment, keep the following points in mind:

  • What is the task’s risk level? The answer may determine the equipment type to choose.
  • How much time does the worker need to complete the job? Tasks with a longer duration may necessitate different equipment. In general, employees should not be made to stay on a ladder longer than 30 minutes.

Reviewing Your Existing Control Measures

All working at height risk assessments must be reviewed on a regular basis. Changes must be made, whenever circumstances dictate. These include changes in the staff.

The risks that working at height poses are unique and different from other safety and health hazards. Each project you undertake will most likely pose a different set of risks. This is because each site is unique, and the issues you need to consider vary.

To illustrate, a routine maintenance job on a tall building, a roof repair job, and a barn renovation will present varying hazards. Thus, each job will require a different set of control measures.

A risk assessment is often more effective if feedback from the workers concerned are considered. Typically, a worker will raise practical inputs that employers may fail to consider. An employee may come up with sound recommendations that will help in formulating effective control measures.

Policies that are finalized with the collaboration of workers will be observed more compared to ones that are being imposed unilaterally or without consultation.

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How Can Workplace Injuries Be Reduced?

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reducing workplace injuries

In the construction industry alone, over 80,000 workers sustain injuries from workplace accidents every year. Despite the heightened efforts to make every work surface a 0 accident area, statistics show that a lot more must be done to completely eliminate workplace accidents.

The Cost of Workplace Accidents

A single workplace accident comes with a heavy financial cost. This includes losses and expenses in terms of production, man-hours, and healthcare. In addition to these financial losses, workplace injuries also result to valuation of human costs.

The first step to eliminating workplace accidents and promoting the safety of workers is understanding the risks and taking steps to prevent them.

Having said that, following are the top 5 tips to help prevent injuries in the workplace:

  • Wear PPE – PPE is among the most essential pieces of equipment designed to protect users from risks. These include safety gear such as gloves, helmet, high visibility clothing, safety footwear, and eye protection, among others. While PPE helps promote a safer work environment, studies reveal that a shocking 98% of workers say they’ve seen other workers in their work area who were not using the proper PPE equipment. Reasons cited include poor fit, discomfort, and lack of accessibility.

Your legal mandate as an employer is to provide a work environment that is safe for your employees. The 1992 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Work law stipulates that employers should take reasonable steps to make sure that workers use the provided PPE responsibly and properly.

The PPE must be:

  • Stored and maintained properly
    • Assessed properly before being used to make sure it is appropriate for the intended purpose
    • Provided with clear instructions on its safe use
    • Used the right way by workers

Although this has been often neglected, employees must also have sufficient training on the proper use, care, fit, and storage of the provided PPE.

Regulations like ANSI/ISEA 121-2018: American National Standard For Dropped Object Prevention Solutions are starting to be implemented and companies are cracking down on safety measures to enhance risk management and reduce costs due to injury, deaths, and equipment damages.

Creating a Safe Work Environment

Common practices at work may result to workplace injuries. Any potential hazards must be dealt with right away. The HSE reports that 24% of all workplace accidents are due to slips and falls.

These accidents resulted from dangers that are deemed preventable like poor lighting, trailing cables, and slippery floor surfaces. Preventive measures are typically straightforward so there’s no reason not to act promptly: repair broken steps, mop spillages right away, and encourage your staff to report maintenance lapses right away so immediate fixes can be implemented.

Creating a Culture of Safety

Employers are responsible for protecting and informing their workers about all safety and health issues affecting them. It is crucial that safety and health policies are communicated to everyone. These include training sessions, induction packs, and staff handbooks. By promoting a culture of safety, workers learn and understand the value of safety and health at work.

Giving proper training to workers can also reduce the risk of injuries. This is because educated and well-informed workers are less likely to figure in an accident. They are fully aware about the potential hazards they may face.

The employer must also review existing policies on a yearly basis or as often as necessary to make sure that they are always compliant with legislations.

Carrying out Risk Assessment

Prevention, as they say, is always the best cure. The law requires every business to perform health and safety assessments to spot the possible hazards in their respective workplaces. Risk assessment guide businesses in understanding the things they need to do in assessing and controlling workplace risks, as well as in complying with existing health and safety laws.

Risk assessment lowers accident rates by formally evaluating areas at work, identifying existing hazards, then determining the possible injuries or accidents that may happen. For instance, do workers need to work at height or carry heavy loads? A written account of your risk assessment, and every step you take is important to mitigate the risk of accidents.

Using Clear Signage

The law requires posting of clearly marked signage in all areas that pose potential hazards. This is for the information of workers. Even if your small business isn’t mandated to comply, posting these signs can be invaluable in protecting your workers.

As an employer, it is vital that you make sure your employees know and understand what the safety signals and signs mean. They may obtain information through training, bulletin board notices, or word of mouth at work.

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What Are the Risks of Working at Height?

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Risks of Working at Height

Working at height poses the grave risk of falling from the work area or being struck by a falling object. Whether the person falls from height, or he is on level ground and struck by a falling object, it can result to serious injuries or even death.  This is why maintaining strict protocol and obeying work at height regulations in the workplace is so critical.

Many different factors can lead to injury-causing accidents. These include poorly maintained equipment, employees failing to inspect machinery before using them, and untrained workers, among others.

If there is a lot of clutter and unsecured equipment or tools in elevated work spaces, the risk of falling from height on people underneath becomes higher. This is particularly true if the company has yet to create an exclusion zone.

A variety of external factors like heat stress, wind, structural instability as well as worker-related factors also contribute to fall-related injuries.

What You Must Do as an Employer or Safety Engineer

First, you must make sure that each work flow is a result of proper planning. The work must be supervised and performed by qualified workers who have the knowledge, experience, and skills for the job. The type of tools and equipment appropriate for working at height must be employed in carrying out the task.

When setting up precautionary measures, you must take the sensible route. This means relatively straightforward, low-risk tasks will merit less time and effort in terms of planning. And, using your common sense, you will know that some of the low risk tasks would require minimal to no precautions at all.

Setting Up Control Measures

Risk assessment should be done first. Weigh the different factors at play such as the height of the job, the frequency and duration, as well as the condition of the work surface.

Consider the following steps before proceeding to work at height:

  1. Avoid working at height in areas where it is practicable and reasonable to do so.
  2. If you cannot avoid working at height, you can help prevent falls by using either the appropriate type of equipment, or existing work area that has been proven to be safe.
  3. Minimize the distance and repercussions of a fall. You can do this by using the appropriate type of equipment and tools where it is not possible to eliminate the risk completely.

For every step, always be partial to the procedures that will protect everyone exposed to the risk over measure that are designed to protect only the individual. Simply put, collective protection must prevail over personal protection.

In collective protection, it is not necessary for the individual working at height to act on the equipment to make the protection effective. Examples include temporary or permanent guardrails, tower scaffolds, and scissor lifts.

In personal protection, the equipment requires the person to act to make it effective. One example is properly wearing a safety harness, then using an energy-absorbent lanyard to connect it to an appropriate anchor point.

Working at Height Do’s and Don’ts

Following are the do’s and don’ts of working at height that you should know.

Do’s:

  • Do work on the ground instead of working at height whenever possible.
  • Do make sure that employees can safely get to and from the work at height area.
  • Do make sure that the equipment and tools to be used are appropriate, stable, and durable enough for the task. It is also important that they are regularly checked and well-maintained.
  • Do take the necessary precautionary measures when working around, near, or on fragile surfaces.
  • Do give protection from falling objects.
  • Do plan for emergency evacuation as well as rescue procedures.

Don’ts:

  • Don’t overload ladders. Consider the materials or equipment that employees are carrying before allowing them to work at height. Check the label or pictogram printed on the ladder for info.
  • Don’t over-reach on stepladders and ladders.
  • Don’t rest a ladder on upper surfaces that are weak such as plastic gutters or glazing.
  • Don’t use stepladders or ladders for heavy or strenuous jobs. Use them only for short duration and light tasks, e.g. half an hour at a time.
  • Don’t let an unqualified worker to work at height. Make sure the individual has the knowledge, skills, and experience for the job.

Working at height comes with inherent risks. But, these risks can be minimized by observing the appropriate safety measures.

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Top 9 Do’s and Don’ts of Tool Tethering

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Tethered equipment on leg of worker

The main objective of a safety engineer in setting up proper tethering procedures is to ensure that everything is in proper balance. This means the tool, recoil/retraction force, and application are stable.

When using the tool in an extended manner, it is necessary to only use minimal force. This will cause fatigue on the worker. On the other hand, it will not result to a kick when retracted.

With proper tool tethering, there is minimal danger of entanglement, annoyance, and fatigue while maximizing worker output and satisfaction.

Having said that, following are the top Do’s and Don’ts of tool tethering to keep in mind:

The Do’s of Tool Tethering

  1. Verify the tether’s integrity before you set out to use it. Check for signs of fatigue or excessive wear. If you are in doubt, replace the tether. This will help keep you away from accidents in case your doubt is proven positive.
  2. Verify the attachment point of the tool to make sure that it is durable enough to handle the tool for the tether’s full drop distance.
  3. Weigh the tools you will be using. This way, you can choose a properly rated lanyard for the particular application. It is never a good idea to assume the tool’s weight by feel alone.
  4. Make sure to anchor all tools that weigh in excess of 10 lbs. to a structure, and not to a person.
  5. Always make use of a lanyard that is properly rated for the particular tool’s weight. It is important that the lanyard is designed to have at least a 25% margin for a drop at full extension.
  6. Use a tether with a quick release feature whenever you are using a number of small tools for a particular application.
  7. Whenever possible, use a retractable tether in case you need to use multiple tethers at the same time. This way, you can prevent possible entanglement problems.
  8. Always use lanyards with as low stretch force as possible at full extension. Just make sure they have the right recoil degree for both the application and the tool.
  9. Whenever possible, shift the shock load from a person to a sturdy structure.

Whenever you are in doubt, always check with a reputable safety expert. Do not make any assumptions as this may endanger lives.

Equipment Tethering Don’ts

  1. Never use a tether that has a lower weight limit that the tool you are tethering.
  2. Never tether a tool to a person if the tool weighs more than 10 lbs.
  3. Avoid tethering tools to a person if you aren’t sure about their impact on the person’s PFP (Personal Fall Protection) devices.
  4. Refrain from attaching a tether to a structure if you are unsure about the anchor point’s shock load capability and strength.
  5. Never use lanyards or tethers that require extreme force for full extension. This may only result to possible muscle injuries and lower worker output.
  6. Avoid modifying the lanyard in any manner. This includes replacing or removing the lanyard’s components like side release disconnect clips or shock absorbing components as this may negatively affect the lanyard’s load rating.
  7. Avoid customizing the tool lanyard such as equipping it with hardware that don’t have the load ratings appropriate for the tool. For example, a key ring is often used as a tool attachment point. But, it will often not work for heavier tools that weigh over 1 lb.
  8. Never assume that any particular tool tether is fool proof. What MAY go wrong, WILL go wrong. This is particularly true in the workplace.
  9. It is never a good idea to use a tool lanyard as a Personal Fall Protection (PFP) lanyard. Both are safety tools, but they must be used properly.

Bear in mind that a tool tether won’t break away against a person’s weight. Thus, you should never use a tool tether if there is a possibility for machine entanglement.     

Tool tethers are designed to protect the workers and their tools, as well as the work environment from falling objects. Accidents happens. But, they are always avoidable. Following the do’s and don’ts of tethering provided in this post will help minimize accidents in the workplace, while at the same time promoting worker productivity.

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Ten Safety Tips You Must Follow When Working at Heights

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Working at heights is inherently risky, and precautions must be taken to avoid injury. General industry standards require workers to be provided safety measures when they are working at least four feet above a lower level.  

Here are ten essential tips to ensure that workers working at heights are safe:

One. Create a safety plan. 

Before commencing work, inspect the site and assess safety risks. Then create measures to address them. You should not only consider the risks to workers at height but also those at ground level.

Two. As much as possible, perform a bulk of the work while on the ground.

Try to minimize the amount of time that workers have to spend at height to reduce safety risks. Work at height should only be assigned to experienced workers and performed under close supervision.

Three. Use passive fall protection systems.

Passive systems are those that don’t require the worker to interact with them to ensure their safety. Examples of these systems are netting and guardrails. Since workers engrossed in their job may not be paying attention to their surroundings, a passive system will help to ensure that they are safe. 

Four. If you are using active systems, choose the right ones.

Active systems are those that require the worker to interact with them actively. Examples of these are personal protection systems that require the worker to have on a full-body harness and attach a tether that will arrest their fall.

If you are using personal protection equipment, make sure that it fits the specific conditions in for the surroundings and the type of work being done there. The worker should also be trained on how to use it properly.

Five. Use ladders safely.

Ladders are very common pieces of equipment found on construction sites. Falling off ladders is also one of the most frequent types of workplace accidents. Thus, workers should be trained to use ladders correctly. Here are some things to bear in mind:

  • Ladders should only be set up on level ground. Avoid muddy, wet, or icy surfaces.
  • The hinged metal braces should be straight and locked down before workers climb on it.
  • Don’t stand or sit on the top step, or lean too far to the right or left.
  • Carry supplies and tools in a tool belt or holster, so that the worker’s hands are free.

Six. Choose the right method of working at heights.

There are three possible solutions to working at heights – ladders, lifts, or scaffolds. Choose the right one, depending on how high up the work area is. Also, make sure that the safety measures used are appropriate for that solution.

Seven. Understand your roofing regulations. 

These regulations define what fall protection measures are available to contractors working on rooftops. Violating these may not only compromise the safety of workers but also result in penalties and fines. So make sure that you either familiarize yourself with these regulations or speak to someone familiar with them.

Eight. Ensure safety when using lifts.

The right fall protection procedures should be followed when on a lift. For instance, when using a lift, persons on it should be tied down at all times. This will keep them safe in case someone forgets to secure the chain or close the gate. Also, both feet should be on the platform at all times.

Nine. Workers should be trained in safety procedures.

Aside from providing the proper equipment and securing tools, this is the best thing you can do to keep your workers safe. OSHA explains that falls are the primary cause of death in construction sites, but this can be avoided by giving your workers the information they need.

Ten. Have a rescue and evacuation plan ready.

If a worker falls, retrieving them as quickly as possible may spell the difference between life and death. Thus, you should have a plan ready to retrieve them and to provide the necessary first aid before emergency services arrive. 

There should also be workers at the site who have been trained in rescue procedures and handling rescue equipment. These should be the point persons in any rescue attempt. They will assess the situation and determine the correct method to follow, as well as contacting the fallen worker to determine their status.

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