Hazard (Working at Height)

Hazards
Falls from heights are a regular cause of fatal and serious injuries. There are three main hazards
associated with work at heights:
1. Falls.
2. Falling objects.
3. Falls from collapsing structures.
Risk Assessment
Carry out a risk assessment before working at height to find out what health and safety measures need to be adopted to avoid or reduce risk. Work should be done at a safe level to minimise risk. If this is not possible, consider the following:
• the physical condition of the people involved eg age, fitness, pregnancy, vertigo, etc;
• the activity;
• equipment to be used;
• location, eg near or over water, roads, under power lines, over raked stage, etc;
• the environment, eg weather, temperature, lighting;
• duration of the work;
• condition and stability of the work surfaces.
Precautionary Measures
1 Falls
Precautions must be taken where a person can fall a distance of more than 2m. If there is an increased risk of injury when falling a distance of less than 2m, eg working near a traffic route or above a dangerous surface, then suitable precautions will also be required.
There are four ways of preventing falls of people:
• edge protection, eg toe boards, guard rails;
• safety harnesses;
• maintaining a safe distance from an edge;
• safety nets.
These need to be considered in the order listed above. Further information on edge protection and safety harnesses can be found in Health and safety in construction HSG150 and Health and safety in roof work HSG33. A video High designs covers the design of safe access at height during maintenance activities.
2 Falling objects
To prevent objects falling onto people you need a proper management system which:
• provides barriers, eg a toe boards or mesh guards to prevent items from slipping or being knocked off the edge of a structure;
• secures objects to the structure, eg lashing of scaffold boards;
• ensures that there are no loose objects and that any tools are properly secured;
• creates an exclusion zone, where necessary, beneath areas where work is taking place.
In addition, when people are working at heights above other work areas, it is advisable to provide safety helmets to protect the workers below against falling objects. Danger areas can be clearly marked with suitable safety signs indicating that access is restricted to essential personnel wearing hard hats while this work is in progress.
3 Falls from collapsing structures
This section applies equally to temporary stage sets or more permanent structures used for television and long running theatre productions.
Structures need to be designed to be safe and to be built by competent people. Regulation 13 (safe design) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (CDM) applies whether or not the rest of the Regulations apply. The skills, knowledge and experience of the designer will depend upon the nature of the structure concerned and the use or uses to which it is put. See HSE's publications GS28/2 and GS28/3 on the safe erection of structures.
A competent person should inspect and attach a notice to a structure after completion and before it is put into use. Further inspections on a regular basis (at least weekly) and after severe weather (external structures) or if the structure is significantly altered, will also be needed.
Competency means a person with the appropriate qualifications, knowledge and experience to identify the risks arising from a situation and the measures needed to control these.
Temporary access equipment
Temporary access equipment would include scaffolding, tower scaffolds, ladders, step ladders and trestles. The use of mobile elevating work equipment and access equipment, such as tallescope, will be considered in a separate information sheet.
Some general points concerning safe use of temporary access equipment are that:
• equipment should be properly maintained and regularly inspected particularly if used outside.
• defective equipment needs to be clearly identified and not be used.
• those using access equipment should be properly trained and competent
Scaffolding
The erection of scaffolding is a specialist activity. Further detailed information can be found in HSE's publication Health and Safety in construction HSG 150.
Tower scaffolds
Further information can be found in HSE's publication Tower scaffolds CIS10.
Ladders, step ladders and trestles
Further information can be found in HSE's publication General access scaffolds and ladders CIS49.
No ladders should be used if there is the possibility of contact with overhead electric wires or unprotected electrical equipment. Further information on electrical safety is contained in HSE's publication Electrical safety at places of entertainment GS50.
Theatre and studio lighting grids
An additional hazard associated with work in lighting grids is that of dropping objects such as tools. All suspended equipment should have an independent safety bond in addition to its primary means of suspension.
Remember: Make sure that no loose items are taken into the grid, eg by use of pocketless overalls, tie lines on tools and equipment, etc, or create an exclusion zone below the working area, eg by erecting a barrier.
In order to enforce this system there may be a need for some form of warning system when the grid is occupied.
Everybody working in the area should be clearly aware of the system being used.