WORKING AT HEIGHT
CONSTRUCTION CONCERNS
Working at Height remains the biggest danger for construction workers according to a report from the Building Safety Group (BSG). Chris Chapman, Technical Support Manager looks at the issues surrounding Working at Height in construction.
A report combined the results of over 20,000 site inspections conducted during 2016. Working at Height was found to be the most significant hazard identified during site visits, accounting for 19% of all breaches recorded. BSG’s figures echo the latest construction sector statistics published by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). Despite an overall drop in fatalities, falls from height still remain the single biggest cause of fatalities on construction sites and in the workplace.
A total of 24,634 non-compliances were logged by safety advisors throughout 2016. Over the last five years 97 construction workers have lost their lives falling from height, accounting for 45% of all fatal injuries. They are also the largest single cause of non-fatal accident related injury, responsible for 33% all non-fatal injuries, including 11% of the injuries resulting in an absence of more than seven days.
The majority of workers killed from falls from height are qualified to work at height as roofers, scaffolders etc. with only a third being unqualified. The main issues around unsafe working at height are inadequate access equipment and scaffold not being put up correctly. A major problem is with the scaffolding erected for timber frame structures where the scaffold is put up before the timber frame structure is erected, so basically you have a square of scaffolding with nothing in it, and it should be built to SG28:17 Guidance (Safe Systems of Work for Scaffolding Associated with Timber Frame Building Construction). The Guidance says that once the timber frame is erected, the scaffold should then be
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struck and rebuilt to suit the now existing structure.
A traditional scaffold is built around a building, bricklayers would work from the ground up, to a level where they cannot work any higher, they will then bring in scaffold, and that scaffold will be what they call an ‘independently tied scaffold’ which is very common. Typically, in the case of timber frame construction, the site manager asks scaffolding contractors to build a scaffold. However once the timber frame is erected they don’t have the scaffold adapted as they should. This means that the scaffold around the new structure is not suitable for the rest of the work that needs to be carried out, for example, the cladding or the rendering.
“DESPITE AN OVERALL DROP IN FATALITIES, FALLS FROM HEIGHT STILL REMAIN THE
SINGLE BIGGEST CAUSE OF FATALITIES ON
CONSTRUCTION SITES.”
A major problem is edge protection, or the lack of it, especially on the inside. For instance if a building needs to be rendered, they will leave a gap on the side of the scaffold towards the building, in order for the render to pass through, but they leave too wide a gap. The Regulations say that the gap should be as small as possible, and closed off as soon as it is no longer is needed, however there is a misconception that a gap of up to 300mm is permissible. No gap is
acceptable, but if there has to be one to facilitate some work, then it should be closed up as soon as the work is done. This is according to the Working at Height Regulations, the Scaffolding TG2013 and Guidance from the NASC.
Pressure of work is another challenge to safe working and also a lack of adequate equipment. In my experience, one of the biggest problems for finishing trades is that they have one set of step ladders for all work, and they may not be adequate for all tasks. They might be too tall for some work and tradesman will lean them against a wall or they might be too short and stepladders become very unstable if you stand on the top three steps, this can be a particular issue in the
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