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It dloesnt matter if you work at heights now and then or every day, safety is essential.
It takes a mistake to turn a routine task into a serious injury or fatality. You must be prepared to protect your employees every time they are exposed to a fall hazard.
How do you Define Working at Height?
When we say ‘working from heights’ we mean any type of work that has the potential for the worker to fall from one level to another. It could be from the ladder, the edge of the roof, through the floor opening, even a loading dock can work at height. In general industry, OSHA is required to protect the fall from any change in height of 4 feet or more. Here are ten safety tips to help mitigate the risk of working at heights.
How to safely work from Heights
Choose the right PPE:
If you are using Personal Fall Arrest Systems (PFAS), you need to make sure that you choose the right equipment. All full-body harnesses complying with ANSI standards will perform the same, despite their cost. However, you can get something extra from that price differential. Sometimes a more expensive harness costs more simply because it’s made to be more comfortable.
Choose an acceptable anchor point:
By this point, you might realise that there are a lot of factors involved when it comes to safety, especially the PPE. Well, we’re just going to get into it. What’s the right harness and lanyard set up if the anchor point doesn’t hold the load? The answer to that is none.
What is an acceptable anchor point? This isn’t a PVC pipe. It’s not a decorative piece of steel on the roof either. An anchor point is acceptable only if:
- It is designed and approved by a professional engineer who has calculated or approved the expected loads.
- It can handle a load of 5,000 pounds.
A lot of fixtures won’t be able to withstand those forces. Structured steel with the proper beam clamp? Yeah. Sure. A built roofing cart or an anchor? Sure, if it’s installed correctly.
Use Railing:
use railing when you can. Railing is a form of passive protection, the easiest and most recommended way to keep your workers safe while ensuring compliance. There’s no training or extra equipment needed, because there’s nothing they need to do to keep themselves safe (other than stay within the rail). There is a railing system for almost every type of roof, such as non-penetrating railings, parapet railings, metal roof railings, and more. It doesnt matter what type you use, once it is in place you will find that the rails are the easiest way to prevent falls.
Do your research and determine what you really need to do. If you have welders working at heights, you will need more protection than the standard nylon harness. This is beause the heat from the welding equipment will burn through the nylon. You would be better off to use a Kevlar harness in this situation.
Comfort is important, but the main concern must be the ability to adjust the harness in such a way that it fits the user properly and ensures that it works as intended.
Lanyards need to be selected as well. Depending on the height at which you work, a 6′ lanyard with a deceleration device may not protect your worker. A retractable lanyard might be needed instead. Each situation is different, so you need to evaluate your working conditions and the task to be carried out to give your employees something that will protect them.
Ensure that you understand the distance between fall:
You can wear all the fall protection equipment in the world, but if you don’t get involved before you hit something, it’s useless. This might sound like a “common sense” statement, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to get this part wrong. On the construction site it is not unusual to see a 10 – 12 ‘ working using a 6’ lanyard with a deceleration device. While you might think it should work at first glance, there are several reasons why it won’t work.
First, you need to add 3.5′ of the distance to your deceleration device’s deployment account. This means that the lanyard is equal to a 9.5′ drop. Unless you’re a 6″ tall person, this is some pretty bad news. Your actual fall distance needs to include not only the length of your lanyard when deployed, but also the length of your body below the D-ring AND any sag in your harness and anchor system. You need a 18.5′ at minimum before you even think about using a 6′ lanyard and a deceleration device. Calculate the minimum clearance distance correctly before you need to use the system.
Inspect Your EPP:
Great. You have the equipment you need to insure a protected working environment. It doesn’t matter if the systems are worn to the point that they fail. Lanyards and harnesses need to be regularly inspected. Think annually or a couple times annually. This must be done by a competent person. However, the PPE should be inspected by the user before any use is made. Anyone who might be using the devices must understand what they’re looking for, what’s acceptable or not, and there should be a problem with the steps to be taken. The pre-use check doesn’t have to take a lot of time, but it needs to be thorough. This step might be the difference between life and death.
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How to Work at Heights Safely