Work at Height - Hazards and precautions

 

   Work at Height  

man lift

What is work at height? 

Work at height means work in any place which is 1.8 meters from the ground, that distance liable to cause personal injury. Working on a temporary platform such as scaffolding, MEWP, and a ladder are considered as work at height.

What are the Employer responsibilities regarding work at height?

• The employer should first assess the risk. 

• Avoid work at height where it is possible.

• Where the work at height cannot be easily avoided to minimize the consequence of fall by using the right type of equipment, 

• Provide sufficient training and PPE.

What is the leading hazard of work at height?

Safety on work at height is critical, considering falls are a leading cause of injuries in the workplace 

• There are three kinds of fall injuries involved:

• Slip, trip, and fall ‐ from the same level, which may cause serious injuries,

• Falls to a lower level ‐ dropping from a height, involving scaffolding, ladders or roofs, etc.

• Falling objects ‐ may also, cause “struck by” injuries on other workers or pedestrians.

What are the other risks/hazards of work at height except for fall?

Hazards of work at height:

• The collapse of scaffolding due to overloading or instability,

• Electrocution from overhead power lines

• Manual handling injuries

• Overturning of MEWP

• Adverse weather risk

• Collision

• Dropped object

 

Fall-related workplace injuries from work at height:

Falls are the leading cause of fatalities in the construction site. An estimated 2.3 million workers or 65% of the construction industry work on scaffolds, between 3000‐4500 construction work‐related injuries occur each year, between 700 ‐900 workers in different industries die from falls in the US. (https://www.hse.gov.uk)

What are the causes of the accident of work at height?

• Insufficient risk assessment

• Missing scaffold component

• None compliance of safety standard

• Insufficient training

• Lack of supervision

• Working in adverse weather condition

 

What is the safest way to work at height?

• Elimination: prepared work on the ground if possible 

• Substitution: replacing a process with one less hazard such as deploying a new safer model or type of scaffold, use a powered lift,

• Engineering: isolate or enclosure of hazards, such as improve the guard rail system, fall protection, barricade dropped zone, provide a lifeline,

• Administrative: limiting hour working at height to reduce strain, robust warning system, the refresher training system, buddy system,

• Personal protective equipment: last line of defence if the risk is unavoidable in delivering work,

 

Scaffolding:

A temporary working platform to provide workers access to the elevated area should provide:

• Sufficient weight-bearing support

• An adequately large to contain personnel, equipment, and materials,

What are the basic categories of scaffolds?

Now in industries, there are four types of scaffolding in practice, others are only in the book or google.

1. Tower scaffolding
2. Birdcage scaffolding
3. Independent scaffolding
4. Hanging or suspended scaffolding

Note: mobile scaffolding is also a type of “tower scaffolding” and ‘cantilever” are including in the suspended type of scaffolding.

 

What are the requirements of the Scaffold erection?

• Provide guidelines in erecting scaffolding

• Must be built on a stable foundation

• Set aside broken and damaged components

• Barricade the area and post signage

• Trained scaffold under-qualified person supervision

• Must check adverse weather, improper lighting, and inadequate lighting,

• Proper material stacking and housekeeping

 

What are the general Precautions of Scaffolding erection or dismantling??

• Safety harness and other PPE must be worn by the worker,

• Avoid working in high wind,

• Sufficient clearance from the power line (At least 10 feet away from the power line and 1.5*deep from excavation),

• Barricade the area and post signage (hard barricade),

• Know the escape route, emergency assembly area in case of emergency,

• Erection on firm, stable ground,

• use a material basket and gin wheel to avoid the dropped object,

• material keep in the trolley,

What are the protection systems of scaffolding?

• Temporary or permanent guard rail

• Toe-boards to form a barrier along edge side

• Personal fall arrest system (PFAS)

• Tag system on the scaffold

 

MEWP (Motor Elevated Working Platform)

If you are using a MEWP ( such as a Scissor lift, Man lift, Boom lift, Bucket lift, etc.), consider the following questions:

• How height is the job from the ground?

• Do you have the appropriate MEWP for the job?

• What are the ground and weather conditions (wind speed)?

• The operator of MEWP is trained and certified?

• Any overhead hazards?

• What do you need to prevent the collision of people or vehicles?

• MEWP has the inspection sticker and manufacturer instruction booklet?

 

What are the general Precautions of using MEWP?

• Use flagman during MEWP movement

• Outrigger must be extended and grounded

• Safety harness and other PPE must be worn by the worker

• Avoid working in high wind

• Sufficient clearance from the power line (At least 10 feet away from the power line, and 1.5*deep from excavation)

• Barricade the area and post signage

• Know the escape route, emergency assembly area in case of emergency

• Vehicle sited on firm, stable ground

• Must not be overloaded (follow the manufacture instruction)

 

Our key message:

• Carry out a risk assessment for work at height activities,

• Make sure the work is planned, organized, and carryout by a competent person,

• Choose the right and inspected work equipment,

• Make sure the people understand the fall distance

• Know when and what type of fall protection required

• Make sure emergency procedure in place to cover reasonably foreseeable circumstance,

• Make sure the permit to work system, monitoring system in place

• Always use a safe system of work