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Harry Waters, Sales and Marketing Director with Nationwide Access, explains the likely impact of the new Work at Height Regulations which come into effect at the end of the year.
Nobody can deny that working at height is dangerous. Falling from height is the biggest single cause of death and serious injury in the workplace - and that includes all industries.
And yet despite the known risks, people put their own and other people's lives at risk every day by using inappropriate, and often plain idiotic, methods of working at height. The Health and Safety Executive is fighting a never-ending battle to combat unsafe working practices but HSE inspectors cannot be present at every work site. Nevertheless, it is, and always has been the responsibility of the employer to ensure that conditions on site are safe and comply with the prevailing health and safety law, because, when an accident does take place, they can be sure of a visit from the HSE and if working practices are not up to scratch improvement notices, prohibition notices and prosecution may follow.
Work at Height Regulations 2004
The HSE will soon have another weapon with which to challenge unsafe practices: the new Work at Height Regulations 2004. These new regulations will implement the Temporary Work at Height Directive (2001/45/EC) and are expected to become law within the next six months.
The imminent introduction of this new legislation has already had a beneficial effect in the workplace - and it hasn't even become law. The new Regulations are not expected to take effect before the end of the year. However, knowledge of the impending regulations has focused attention on the question of safe working at height and people are generally alert to the problem.
So what is so revolutionary about these new regulations? Surprisingly, much of the Work at Height Regulations amounts to a combination of existing health and safety law, including the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER), Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act Regulations 1999 (Reg.3).
All falls from above ground level covered
There are, however, significant new requirements. Most noticeably, where previous legislation specified certain measures to be taken at a height of two metres or more, the new regulations now state that measures must be taken at any height above ground level. This new requirement recognises the statistical fact that the majority of major injury accidents caused by falls from height are from below two metres.
The new Work at Height Regulations are nothing if not wide-ranging. They cover all work activities where there is a possibility that a fall involving a distance liable to cause injury could occur. This is regardless of the equipment being used or the duration the person is at a height at which the work is performed. In other words, the new Regulations cover all falls except slips and trips.
Working platforms and restraints
Several terms incorporated in the new Regulations deserve some explanation. For example, the Regulations refer to "working platforms", but this is not a specific description. A working platform is any piece of equipment used to stand on while working at height. It can mean a scaffold, a cradle, a platform temporarily attached to a forklift truck, trestle stages and mast-climbing work platforms. Mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) such as scissor lifts and self-propelled boom lifts also come under this heading.
The Regulations also make reference to 'work restraints' (any device used to prevent a person reaching a fall point such as the edge of a roof); 'fall arrest' (a system used to stop worker from hitting a solid surface should a fall occur); and 'work position' (which means a system where the worker is sat in position, for example using a boatswain's chair of rope access method), but initially every consideration should be given to avoidance.
More fundamental than these specifics, though, are the requirements that work at height be properly planned, appropriately supervised, and a proper risk assessment carried out prior to the work commencing. This reinforces concepts such as the 'competence' of the planner, inspector or supervisor - something the employer will have to be able to demonstrate in the event of an accident involving a fall from height.
Already, Nationwide Access is receiving frequent calls from customers anxious to know how they can obtain a 'Work at Height Certificate'. If they are puzzled, then so are we - there is no certificate as such known to us, and yet our customers' employers are apparently requiring the users of powered access equipment to produce one.
IPAF Training Package
The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) has produced a comprehensive training package for equipment users, including a relatively new course on the use, maintenance and inspection of harnesses, and associated equipment. This equipment is referred to specifically in the new Regulations. It turns out, from anecdotal evidence, that a training certificate from this course is usually what the employer actually requires, even though it is not a certificate proving competence in all aspects of work at height.
In fact, when it comes to equipment, the new Regulations are not prescriptive. All they do is stipulate the use of the 'most suitable equipment'. This apparently innocuous phrase will actually have the most profound effect on the execution of work at height - even effectively banning that most fundamental of access tools, the ladder, in many instances.
Ladders as a last resort
Ladders are not outlawed by the new Regulations, but the European Directive makes it clear that they should only be used as work stations where a risk assessment shows that the use of other work equipment is not justified because of the low risk and either the short duration of the job or unalterable features of the work site. The ladder will no longer be the automatic choice for many jobs - instead it will be the option of last resort.
For us in the powered access industry, this is good news because, while there will always be a role for steps, ladders and scaffolds, it is an incontrovertible fact that for many jobs currently undertaken from the top of a ladder or a scaffold platform, a scissor or boom lift would be a safer option. In other words, a powered access platform could be, to quote the proposed regulations, the "most suitable equipment".
As I mentioned earlier, the Work at Height Regulations 2004 largely represent a bringing together and tightening up of existing legislation. And so, ironically, although the regulations might have a profound effect on the choice of access equipment for any given job, the basic requirements for ensuring safe work at height are already in place.
What this all boils down to is that, if you are already employing good working practices and comply with the requirements of existing legislation, you have nothing to fear from the new Work at Height Regulations.
Nationwide spearheads training for Powered Access
Training for powered access equipment users is available in a variety of forms, but arguably the most comprehensive, and certainly the most appropriate courses are those provided by the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF).
IPAF has tailored its training modules to the specifics of powered access as applied in any industry, not just construction. This is why Nationwide Access, as the leading UK access hirer, has chosen to provide IPAF courses for its customers and staff.
In fact, Nationwide is now the UK's largest provider of IPAF training courses, delivering up to 20 per cent of all IPAF-accredited training. We have 12 full time instructors providing training at over 20 strategically-located depots, each of which is equipped with the necessary classroom facilities and separate practical test area. Training can be provided at the client's premises, or even on site, providing suitable facilities are made available.
The introduction of the new Work at Height Regulations has stimulated demand for these courses and Nationwide is anticipating a rush of applications as the deadline approaches.
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For further information please contact
your local Nationwide Access Depot on:
0845 745 0000
or e-mail sales@nationwideaccess.co.uk.
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