Working at height can be a very dangerous practice. According to the HSE's 2013/14 statistics on Slips, Trips & Falls, falls from height are the most comon cause of workplace fatalities in the UK, accounting for roughly 3 out of every 10 worker deaths in this country. Even when non-fatal, falling from height can result in all kinds of severe injuries, which is why it's important to take health and safety guidelines seriously when you and/or your employees work at height.
You might think that height safety isn't a concern for your company, but working at height doesn't necessarily mean being thirty feet off the ground. The HSE themselves state that ANY work carried out in a place where "a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury" counts as 'working at height', so that covers everything from rooftops and scaffolds to that chairs that some people will stand on to change a lightbulb.
What can I do to prevent falls from height?
As with any area of health and safety, the first step towards minimising the risk of a nasty fall is to carry out a thorough risk asssesment of the work being done and the working environment you're providing for it. A proper risk assessment should provide you with a list of things to do in order to ensure everybody's safety - depending on the industry you're in, this might include providing safety harnesses, installing an edge protection system, and/or using appropriate signs and labels to warn workers and others of any risks presents.
Here at Label Source, we stock a selection of safety signs and notices that are specifically designed to promote safety while working at height. These include:
One ever-popular health and safety issue on social media concerns the dangerous practices that people continue to engage in when working at height.
Incredulous bystanders, armed with their mobile phones, are able to photograph the latest misuse of ladders or steps as workers foolishly attempt to defy the laws of gravity.
Inadequately prepared, these 'cowboy builders' often improvise means of reaching areas well outside their reach. They have supreme confidence in their abilities, which - they seem to believe - include everything from the balance and the dexterity of a trained gymnast to the strength of a strongman and the analytical capabilties of a mathematician. The ladder structures often balance precariously, sometimes aided by assistants who have to support the structure with brute strength while the ladder user is fully extended from the topmost rung.
However, health and safety statistics reveal that falls from height continue to be the most common type of fatal accident, accounting for 29% of all UK workplace deaths in 2014-15. Also, it is a major contributor to loss of working days due to recovery from injuries sustained through falling. Regrettably, these figures remain stubbornly high, showing no indication of decreasing.
So, as the bystanders capture the action, they have every reason to fear the worst, as things are likely to have a sad ending - if not today, then in the future, as luck and extremely good fortune cannot go on forever.
All photos from @davidgcant on Twitter. Be sure to follow @LabelSourceUK if you're a Twitter user yourself!
