There are those of us who go to the office every day and the only experience that we get off height is when we press the button on the elevator to take us to the 15th or 20th floor. We may be working at a great height, but we are inside a building and there are windows and brickwork separating us from the ground. It is fair to say that this is a pretty safe working environment to be operating in and yet, there are people who work at great heights outside every single day of the week and they are literally taking risks every time that they do their jobs. It doesn’t matter if you’re working at height on a regular basis or you only do it occasionally because it only takes one small mistake that could cause you injury or may even take your life.
If you are an employer, then you need to do everything within your power to protect your employees at all times and that includes having the right kind of height safety compliance in place. For those of you who think that working at height is something quite significant in meters and feet then you need to also remember that working at height also refers to any time that you are not standing firmly on the floor and that you are at the height that you could injure yourself if you fell. This means that climbing a ladder, working on a rooftop or even working just a little bit off the ground presents a clear and present danger to you. Guidelines tell us that 4 feet or more is working at a height. The following are just some tips to help keep you and your employees safe when working at height.
- Install guard rails – Thankfully there are railing systems perfect for most jobs and the purpose of these railings is to keep employees within them and a great deal of training is not needed because common sense should prevail. The railing acts as a way to keep them within the boundaries of the job and it also acts as a balance. By installing rails around a rooftop for example, you as the employer are following the necessary safety compliance.
- Choose the right equipment – There are various pieces of equipment that can be used to protect your staff when they are working at a height. There are things like body harnesses that meet safety standards and this is not the time to be cutting corners because someone’s life could be in your hands, so make sure that you pick the best body harness and PPE possible. You need to think about the work that they will be doing and so if they are working with anything that generates heat then it makes sense that a Kevlar harness would be best.
It’s great that you are considering having the right equipment in place to protect your employees, but it is also equally important that all of your safety equipment is inspected on a very regular basis.