Falls from height are the main cause of fatalities and injuries. Vernon Barry, UK general manager of Kee Safety, takes a look at the latest information and advice from the HSE on minimising these risks
Last year 45 workers died following a fall from height and 3750 were seriously injured. Reducing this unnecessary injury toll is the key task in the latest campaign from the HSE.

Called Shattered Lives, it shows the devastating consequences a slip, trip or fall can have on an employee, employer and building owner if the appropriate steps are not taken and explains what can be done to reduce these risks. Kee Safety fully supports this campaign, and is focused on improving the safety of those working at height maintaining roof-based chiller plant, air handing equipment and packaged ac units. The implications for those in the ac sector who ignore these risks are very serious indeed.

Serious case

One Hertfordshire-based BS maintenance company was recently found guilty of breaching the H&S at Work Act. The company had failed to take steps to ensure the safety of its employees after one of its engineers suffered a serious head injury following a fall whilst carrying out rooftop repairs on ac units.

There was no fixed means of access and no edge protection in place on the building to prevent falls. City of London Magistrates also found the building owner guilty of breaching the Management of H&S at Work Regulations for failing to carry out sufficient assessment of the risk to employees and non-employees and both the building owner and the ac outfit were fined £20,000.

This type of action is a wake-up call for all those involved with rooftop ac work. Under the Work at Height Regulations 2007, all employers and building owners have a legal responsibility to provide personnel with a safe means of accessing and maintaining rooftop equipment without exposing them to a risk of falling.

Safety failures

Only recently did the HSE complete an inspection initiative targeting falls and trips in the refurbishment sector where inspectors focused particularly on the prevention of falls and good site order. Over 1,100 sites were visited nationally and nearly 400 enforcement notices on work at height were issued. These results show just how much further we have to go in effectively preventing falls from height and ensuring a safe working environment for all contractors.

To quote the inspectors, “basic safety precautions on many of the refurbishment sites we inspected were found to be very poor, quite often placing the lives of workers at risk. Where we found unacceptable safety standards, we did not hesitate to take enforcement action”. The HSE concluded that almost one in five sites were failing to address work at height risks on site.

Correct equipment

One of the key HSE recommendations in reducing this risk is to select and use the right equipment. For contractors accessing flat roofs to maintain ac plant, safety guardrailing afforded by collective roof edge protection systems can make a major contribution to minimising danger. The HSE states that collective equipment should be selected before other measures which may only mitigate the distance and consequences of a fall, such as nets or airbags, or which may only offer personal protection from a fall.

The collective system that is selected must meet the highest safety standards. Our free-standing KeeGuard system for any flat roof structures is designed for optimum safety.

It features three principal pre-fabricated components for fast installation and allows for integral kickboard fixing as standard. Fully modular and versatile enough to adapt to most roof edge profiles and level changes, sections can be easily taken down and re-erected as necessary. Because the system is free-standing, there is no risk of roof membrane penetration during installation.

For contractors working near to high-risk areas, such as, skylights, there are also easy to assemble, collective solutions. Kee Dome is another free-standing approach.

The PVC feet clamp directly to the corners of the rooflight base, eliminating the risk of damage to the roof membrane, and the system again makes use of standard components so it’s quick to put up and equally simple to take down. Most importantly, though, it complies fully with all relevant legislation and offers a proven way of reducing the risk of falling through unprotected glazed areas.

Kee Safety Ltd 0118 931 1022