ARTICLE | Anthony Dimeck, Cape PLC
wHAT gOES up
failing to Plan is Planning to fail
“whether you are working underground,
overground or adjacent to an excavation,
someone could still fall and sustain an
injury"
S
afety at height is a team
effort. Anthony Dimeck
addresses the necessity
of thorough planning,
management and competence at
the work site.
When we refer to working at height
the subject covers a whole host
of scenarios, all of which involve
employees performing work duties that
could put them at risk of a fall.
Falls from height account for almost
40% of workplace fatalities. If we
combine this statistic with the fatalities
caused by falling objects, it becomes
clear that working at height is probably
our biggest challenge within the
workplace. We should also consider
that even when a fall does not result in
a fatality a worker can be left severely
injured or disabled, no longer able to
fulfil their daily routine.
To understand what it means to work
at height we should consider a couple
of simple definitions. Firstly, how high
is high? Height is any distance from
which falling could cause damage. A
height may not be seen as high for you,
but if there is the potential to cause
personal harm from falling, then that is
considered ‘height’. Furthermore, height
has no relation to the ground level.
Whether you are working underground,
overground or adjacent to an
excavation, someone could still fall and
sustain an injury.
Another definition to consider is what is
meant by ‘work’. You don’t have to be
constructing something or even doing
something in your usual job specification
to be classed as working. If an individual
is required by someone who has authority
over them to move around in
an area, other than a staircase, where
falling could cause injury or death, then
it is considered work.4
May/June 2014 | hsme 39
ARTICLE | Working at
Height
By working at height you are exposing
yourself and your employees to
significant levels of risk. It is therefore
important to try to avoid working at
height wherever possible. If you can
find a way of removing height from the
task altogether, then the working
environment will be a much safer place.
Unfortunately, working at height in
the construction industry is often
unavoidable, so systems and
techniques must be initiated by
employers to reduce and mitigate
the hazards presented during the
construction process.
Any method of working at height should
be regarded as a complete system,
in which planning, management,
competence and suitable equipment
should be treated with equal
importance, as each factor is dependent
on the other to ensure a safe system
of work.
Planning
In order to ensure reasonable safety
measures are taken, all tasks must be
assessed and planned before work
begins. It is prudent to complete a risk
assessment – this is usually a legal
requirement in most countries in the
MENA region – and safety inspection
“planning, management, competence and suitable
equipment should be treated with equal importance"
for the working at height task, with the
results recorded on paper. Inspection
documents should remain on the
premises at all times. They must
also be updated as and when the
working environment and conditions
change. Once the initial safety
assessment has been completed,
the planning stage can begin.
Planning how work can be carried out
effectively, yet safely, may be one of the
most difficult aspects of any working at
height activity. Managers responsible for
developing plans must weigh the need
for productivity against any potential
risks, real or imagined. Plans must
assume that certain risks are inherent,
and provide a means to mitigate those
risks as much as possible. The best
managers are able to offer a work plan
that provides options to satisfy
everyone's interests.
From a safety perspective, a good plan
should address:
• How work will be conducted under
the system’s restraints
• How safety goals can be
implemented and achieved
• The Personal Protective Equipment
(PPE) and other safety equipment
to be used
Regardless of whether you're talking
about risk assessment or job site and
work planning, it is important to note
that both are ongoing throughout the
entire process of completing the work.
Between the project’s progress,
changing working conditions,
simultaneous operations (SIMOPS),
new employees, and all the other
variables involved in working at height,
assessments and plans are constantly
changing. This requires planners and
organisers to routinely evaluate job site
performance and conditions, and
update documentation and procedures
as necessary.
Every time something is updated it must
be reflected in the documentation kept
on site. Keeping documentation and
safety procedures up to date is always
prudent as auditors and the authorities
will normally ask to see this.
To illustrate what a good plan looks like,
the following is an example from a
commercial window cleaning company.
Assuming they are preparing to clean a
multistorey building, it will be necessary
to visit the site to risk assess
the potential hazards. The work will then
be planned, with a record and method
statement kept to document that the
work was carried out safely.
A competent person should carry out
the risk assessment and consider how
to gain access to the windows and carry
out the work safely. The risk assessor
might consider what’s in place already;
for example, is there an enclosed rail
or beam gantry that could allow a
window cleaner’s cradle to be used?
If not, are employees competent and
trained to use rope access equipment,
such as a bosun’s chair? If the work
is not too high, can the cleaners use a
mobile elevating work platform (MEWP)
such as a cherry picker or a free
standing lightweight aluminium tower,
or will a fixed scaffold be necessary?
Consideration must be given to the
ground’s condition; for example, is it
hard or soft, level or sloping?
The risk assessor should also consider
if other workers or members of the
public may pass close by to the work
area. Will the erection of exclusion
zones and barriers be necessary
to prevent unauthorised access? Will
cleaners need their equipment and
tools tethered, so that dropping of
tools cannot harm people
or property?
For cleaning low level windows, should
cleaners should use ladders or
telescopic poles? If a ladder is chosen,
how will stability be ensured?4

The risk assessor must also consider
what type of fall arrest systems and
equipment is appropriate. If existing
equipment is being used, the inspection
procedures in place must also
be considered.
The risk assessor will also have to
consider what will happen if someone
should fall while working, including
the rescue procedures, training and
available equipment. This would usually
require a separate plan solely for
rescue. A fallen worker, if arrested by
a harness, has only a short time before
experiencing suspension trauma, which
ultimately could be fatal.
Management
Because site safety is so important,
working at height situations require
involvement from all levels of company
management. A top down approach
to worker safety means that senior
management is involved in the
organisational structure, at least to some
degree. Management also needs to
have a good idea of the types of risks
their workers face and how site
supervisors are implementing safety
procedures to reduce those risks.
Middle managers and site supervisors
play an integral role in height safety,
Working at Height | ARTICLE
as they are largely responsible for
ensuring that employees are working
safely at all times. They are the ones
who implement the plans developed in
earlier stages of the work. They are also
the people who will be held immediately
responsible in the event of an accident.
Having well trained and organised
middle managers and site supervisors
makes for a much safer workplace.
Lastly, safety plans and equipment
are only as good as the operatives
themselves. When those doing the
work are as safety conscious as
company owners, they are much
more likely to avoid falls from height
as well as many other safety issues.
Engaging operatives in the development
of safe workplaces is a good idea,
as it gives them a vested interest in
promoting safety. When operatives feel
comfortable offering suggestions and
raising concerns, it in turn makes the
jobs of the site supervisor and middle
manager much easier.
Competence
As most construction employees will
work at height during some part of a
project, employers often use a generic
working at height training package –
and this is often combined with the
initial employee induction. It is good
practise for employees to attend training
prior to their first engagement on the
construction site.
If we consider some specialist fields
where exposure to working at height is
a daily part of the job, such as rope
access and the erection and dismantling
of scaffolding, there is a need for more
intensive training and regular refresher
courses to enhance the competency
levels of employees.
Scaffolding
While good scaffolding provides a safe
means of working at height, erecting
and dismantling scaffolding can be
hazardous in its own right.
There are three grade levels for
scaffolders: trainee, basic and
advanced. It will normally take six
months to a year for a trainee to
progress to the level of basic scaffolder,
and then at least another year to
progress from basic to advanced.
In the MENA region, some of the larger
scaffolding companies have set up their
own training establishments. These are
usually affiliated to a third party training
organisation; for example, the
Construction Industry Training Board
(CITB), a UK based organisation.4
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ARTICLE | Working at
Height
A third party organisation should
monitor the training establishments
and quality of the training delivered
by the accredited trainers. Each trainee
should have an up to date portfolio
which must be monitored to ensure
it is kept up to date.
Rope access
Within the variety of work at height
methods available, rope access is
an accepted technique - provided it is
used in appropriate circumstances.
A rope access system is a safe method
of working at height, in which ropes and
equipment are used to gain access to
and egress from the workplace.
There are three levels of rope access
technician. All worksites operated by
IRATA (Industrial Rope Access Trade
Association) member companies have
at least one Level 3 rope access
supervisor on site. This person is
responsible for the safety of the rope
access systems and the Level 1 and
Level 2 rope access technicians who
work under their supervision. A rope
access team typically consists of at least
two rope access technicians, one of
whom must be a Level 3 rope access
supervisor. Lone working is not allowed.
Equipment
We have already touched on equipment
in previous sections. One of the most
crucial pieces of equipment used by
scaffolders and rope access technicians
is the full body harness. Designed to
arrest the fall of a worker, this is the
most commonly used personal fall
protection device. Full body harnesses
are rigged to prevent workers from free
falling a distance of more than six feet
and hitting the ground or a lower
platform. They are designed to be tied
off or anchored to a fixed structure that
is above the worker’s body and are
capable of supporting 5,000lbs of
dead weight. Harnesses are designed
to be used with safety lanyards. Many
companies and work sites require an
increased element of safety and
stipulate that the harness must have a
dual lanyard incorporated, commonly
referred to as 100% tie off.
Falling objects
It is commonly assumed that the main
hazard when working at height is people
falling onto plant, equipment or the
ground, so much so that sometimes we
forget about the hazards associated with
“every year people incur injuries, minor
or fatal, as a result of being struck by
falling objects"
falling objects and equipment. Every
year people incur injuries, minor or
fatal, as a result of being struck by
falling objects.
Before we start a task we should take a
few moments to assess whether, if
dropped from height, the equipment,
materials and tools we are using could
result in a person below sustaining an
injury. The potential for injury from
dropped objects can be analysed using
the Dropped Objects Risk Matrix.
Dropped Objects Risk Matrix
Precautions we can take include:
• Informing people in the area directly
below where you are working of the
hazards and asking them to move
if possible
• Planning to do work in quiet times,
when there are fewer people around
• Cordoning off the area below where
you intend to perform an operation.
The use of red and white barrier
tape may not always be adequate
as people sometimes break the tape
and walk through, so a rigid barrier
is a better alternative
• Posting warning signs at the barriers
and instructing people in the area
of the potential hazards
• Checking, at regular intervals, that
the barriers are in place and have not
been damaged or moved
• Providing alternative access routes if
walkways are obstructed with barriers
• Carrying tools and equipment in
suitable containers, such as tool
bags, belts and boxes - even buckets
can be used to contain materials such
as nuts, bolts and fittings
• Using tool lanyards where practicable
• Placing fire blankets or an alternative
material on open mesh walkways, to
prevent small items falling to ground4
ARTICLE | Working at Height

Conclusion
According to the hierarchy of control
and as previously stated, we must
first consider the elimination of work
at height. For height specific tasks,
however, this is virtually impossible.
We then find ourselves arriving at the
last line of defence - PPE. What is
noticeable about the move from
elimination to PPE is that we are
moving from the safe place to the safe
person. This means there is more
reliance on competency of people
working at height and constant
monitoring of the operations. While we
are engaging people working at height
we should always consider the potential
of falling objects.<

Author
Anthony Dimeck has worked in
construction for more than 40 years.
He is currently employed as the regional
HSEQ director for Cape East, covering
the MENA region. Mr Dimeck is a
former NEBOSH lecturer and was a
member of the UK NEBOSH examiners’
team. Mr Dimeck has been involved in
health and safety for 26 years and has
been a Chartered Member of the
Institute of Occupational Safety and
Health (IOSH) for more than 20 years.

T: +971 6971 300

M: +971 50 812 2542
E: Tony.Dimeck@capeplc.me

www.osedirectory.com/health-and-safety.php

“there is more reliance on competency of people

working at height and constant monitoring of the
operations"
46 hsme | May/June 2014