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Design comes before a fall


Matthew Bailey, Inspection and Certification Manager from fall protection specialist HCL looks at the issues and explains why safety in design should always come first. Falls from height remain a significant challenge for the construction industry. Real progress has been made in recent years to minimise the risk of falls from height, including advances in equipment, training and general awareness. But perhaps the biggest advance of all can be made in the design and planning stage, by thinking about fall protection before building foundations have even been laid. Completed in 1890, Ulm Münster in


Germany soars to 161.5 metres, making it the world’s highest cathedral. Meanwhile in Morocco, the Hassan II Mosque – competed in 1993 – features the world’s tallest minaret (210m). The fact is, tall buildings have always been a part of every culture, and they remain part and parcel of everyday life. Sadly, so are slips, trips and falls. As construction of stadia for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar gathers pace, we’re hearing horrendous tales of workers exposed to dangerous conditions


32 fmuk


– and we all have a role to play in resolving this. In the UK, HSE statistics show that ‘slips, trips and falls’ cost employers some £500million per year, with falls alone making up almost a third of workplace fatalities. Thankfully, we’re beginning to see a


gradual decline in workplace fatalities in the UK (25 in 2016-17, compared with 37 in 2015-16). Several factors are contributing to this, not least the initiatives introduced by the 2005 Regulations on working at height. Improved risk assessment, better safety procedures as well as training and technological advances in equipment are all playing a part. The more safety becomes a focus, the more workers will demand it, and so there will be further and stronger pressure to therefore improve the culture around working at height. In answering this demand, technology and training have a continuing role to play, but they can only go so far. To date, designing safety into buildings has enjoyed a relatively low profile, despite the best intentions of the BS 8560:2012 Code of practice for the design of buildings incorporating safe work at height. Safety should be designed into buildings formally,


and from the beginning – rather than as an afterthought. Clearly, there are risks inherent to working at a height. Take tall buildings, during construction, there are deep basements and open structures and lift shafts, to mention just a few potential hazards. Post-construction, there’s the need for on-going maintenance of exteriors, roofs and facades. Yet it isn’t uncommon to find buildings where the only access to upper areas is via an exposed vertical ladder – sometimes without fall protection – which are notoriously difficult to negotiate, especially with tools. The introduction of suitable access facilities like stairways into the initial designs would make life safer and easier for everyone. However, the question of future-proofing safety in design is a far bigger issue than simply access to roofs and facades, and covers everything from gutters and air conditioning units through to lighting installations. Architects know that at some point, each of these – major and minor – will need to be inspected, cleaned, repaired or replaced, so why is it often so hard and challenging to do so? It’s true that ultimately the safety


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