February 2013 Health & Safety Legal Update

Willenhall Refurbishment and Shop Fitting company fined £5,000 with over £3,000 costs for unsafe working practices:

A Willenhall  company was fined for allowing workers to work on a roof refurbishment project without working at height training and without appropriate fall protection measures. They also had no risk assessment or Safe System of Work in place. The men were working on the roof of a large furniture store in Bridgtown, Cannock, when concerned members of the public informed the Health and Safety Executive.

Click here to see the full article on the HSE Website.

Working at Height is still the biggest workplace killer in the UK with around 70 people killed each year. Around 10% of the fatal injuries are falls from 2 Metres or less. Many more workers have life changing injuries as a result of workplace falls.

There is no excuse these days for allowing workers to work on roofs without appropriate fall arrest equipment and working at height training. While it is quite rare for a company to be fined without an incident or injury occuring, this company must have had very poor health and safety standards in place on site for the HSE inspector to have prosecuted the company. 

Working on a roof of 2,3,4 or even 5 metres without fall protection is inexcusable, however brief the exposure, one slip can lead to very serious injuries or even death and remember around 10% of fatal fall injuries are low fall incidents!

Hierarchy of control:

Avoid working at height, if possible (use an alternative method so working at height is not required.)

Use collective protective measures before personal protection (use scaffolding, fall arrest nets, edge protection first) this protects everyone working at height and does not rely on workers wearing personal protective equipment properly.

Use personal protective equipment to reduce the fall potential and consequences, where it is not possible to avoid working at height or use collective protection (e.g. a fall restraint harness and lanyard.)

Use the appropriate equipment for the Working at Height Task (e.g. Ladders, Fixed Scaffolding, Cherry Picker, Scissor Lift, Netting or Mobile Scaffold Tower.)

Ladders or Stepladders can be used for working at height but they must be footed or fixed at the top and used for short duration work where three points of contact can be maintained. A risk assessment and safe system of work must be in place for ladder work.

All working at height must be planned and completed by trained, competent and supervised workers, an appropriate risk assessment and safe system of work, must be in place and safe working practices used and enforced.

All equipment used for working at height must be inspected thoroughly by a competent person and by the user before it is used. The equipment must not be used, if found to be faulty. (Cherry pickers and Scissors lifts for example must have a thorough mechanical examination every 6 months, which is often called a LOLER inspection/ certificate.)

Working at Height-refresher training must be provided at least every 3-5 years or more often, if unsafe working practices have been observed.