News Article

Falls From Height – What are the Dangers in your Business?

Falls from height are still the most common cause of death in the workplace death. 30% of all worker deaths in 22/23 and many serious injuries were from falls from height.

Danger of falls from height doesn't even have to be a great distance – a fall from just one or two steps can result in serious injury!

As an employer you should be looking at the risks of falling from height in your business.

Whether working at height is what you do as part of your daily operations or just the occasional use of a stepladder to retrieve supplies from your stockroom, unless staff are fully aware of the risks involved, falls can occur at any time and serious injuries may result.

All your workers can be at risk of falls from height; from high up on a platform or vehicle, or down into an inspection pit. Even just slipping off the bottom rung of a set of step ladders can result in a serious injury and lead to death.

It is essential you carry out a thorough review of your working practices, both those that are official company policy and where short-cuts have been commonly adopted. A simple task such as putting up decorations can result in staff falling off stepladders, or worse still, off office chairs and desks.

The most common causes of workers falling from height are:

• overstretching when using ladders
• standing on insecure platforms for example when not positioned correctly on uneven ground
• incorrect use of equipment for example not tying-in ladders or always maintaining three points of contact
• using inappropriate equipment, or the proper equipment not being available

Other causes include poor housekeeping eg around obstacles, spillages or trenches and staff being distracted causing them to lose their footing.

As an employer you should ensure that no work is done at height if it is safe and reasonably practicable to do it on the ground.

Where working at height is unavoidable, all reasonably practicable measures should be taken to prevent workers from falling. As an employer you must ensure that an appropriate risk assessment is carried out and the risks identified are properly managed. This includes the supply and maintenance of appropriate equipment and ensuring all staff using that equipment have been properly trained.

 

Back to our news section.