What do you need to know in order to know whether or not your height safety system is safe to use?
There is an old saying that in popular culture dates back to the Cold War – trust, but verify.
It means believe that people will do what they say but have the checks in place to make sure that’s the case.
A similar approach can be adopted by workers needing to access an area at height or other high-risk location and need to use an installed, permanent, fall protection system.
Naturally, that only works if you know how to do the verification part. In this blog the Height Safety Engineers experts run through what workers should know to make sure their safety systems will actually keep them safe.
Height safety skills for operators
The first port of call on this journey is that the operator needs first have the skills and knowledge to be able to conduct the verification aspect.
Gaining these skills starts with completing training courses. Initially, there are two types.
Every worker in Australia that gets even close to a construction or work site should complete a general induction (white card). This is the most basic and fundamental type of safety training there is.
After that, workers needing to conduct work off the ground, near ledges or any other fall risk area should complete foundational height safety training (currently this takes the form of the nationally accredited RIIWHS204E Work safely at heights course).
Before a worker accesses a site, there will be an induction process that will be completed. This induction will provide guidance and instruction in site-specific procedures as well as the safety systems in place and their use.
The induction will also inform the worker as to what equipment they will need to correctly operate the safety system.
Check the overall system
As part of the site induction process, the worker should be given details about the safe access and/or fall protection system they will be using to complete their work.
At this point, the worker should be looking to answer some key questions to start determining if the system, in a broad sense, is adequate for their needs:
- Can you safely access the work area?
- Can you safely move to where you need to be?
- Can you safely complete your work?
Only once all these questions are all answered in the affirmative should a worker be ready to start their work. Trust the system has been designed adequately but verify by checking.
Check and inspect as you go
The most important aspect of following a safe work practice, when working at heights using a fall protection system, is for the worker to be constantly checking the system as they go.
Although fall protection systems have documented inspections completed annually (typically), these inspections are only ever able to deliver a verdict on a system at a point in time. At any point between that inspection being completed and the worker accessing the system there could have been any number of actions take place that could alter the system’s compliance.
For anyone working using a fall protection or height safety system, simple checks of the system should be completed before, and also during, work.
This includes making sure that anchor points are firmly fixed in place and are not damaged or deployed. Anchor points where fixture have come loose or are corroded can place workers at risk as they may separate from the structure completely in the event of a fall.
Any anchor point that appears to have been deployed also must not be used.
The worker must apply a similar methodology for any other component of the safety system. Whether it be guardrails, walkways, static lines, rigid rails, ladders, stairs or something else. Workers should be continually verifying the system they trust to keep themselves safe will do so.
Why inspecting is important
The setup of the work health and safety system is, broadly, that a workplace or employer has a duty of care to provide a safe place of work.
That is, if a building owner or manager (or other responsible party) wants a worker to access a high-risk area such as a roof, they must provide a safe means of doing so. For working at heights this takes the form of a sufficiently designed and compliant fall protection system.
But workers also have duty unto themselves to follow safe work practices when it to completing their jobs. They have to have the skills and understanding to correctly and safely use the system. This includes being able to identify when system components, or the system entirely, is not adequate to for the task at hand.
Not being able to correctly use a safety system, either through ignorance of its operation or lack of necessary equipment, places workers at substantive risk of a fall. Just as much as a building having an insufficient or non-compliant system can.
A system is only as good as its operator. Trust, but verify.
Partners in protecting people
Height Safety Engineers work every day with the entire chain of work health and safety responsibility. We consult with architects and building designers to help make sure the best systems are included before a building leaves the drawing board. Our team works with a range of facility managers, building owners and operators on making sure installed systems are kept compliant, or upgraded to improve levels of protection.
Our team can also work with workers directly, providing high quality working at heights and other safety training courses.
Start your safety journey with HSE – your partners in protecting people. Call us on 1300 884 978, email us on enquiries@heightsafety.net, or jump over to our contact page and fill out the form.
