Educating customers on working at height best practice
Sep 19, 2024
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recently reported that falls from height are the leading cause of fatal injury to workers, with 36% of 138 worker deaths attributed to falls from height over the 2023/24 period. These sobering figures make clear that more needs to be done to ensure that ladders and access equipment are selected carefully and are fit for purpose.
Here, Mark Robson, Product Manager at Werner, discusses the tips merchants can pass on to customers to ensure they are purchasing the appropriate access equipment and looking after said equipment in the correct way.
With the HSE’s data showing that the average number of worker deaths in construction is higher in the last two years, it is clear that broader efforts across the industry are required in order to ensure the safety of workers. This includes more awareness around safe working practices at height.
To help support this drive, merchants are urged to help educate their customers around the dangers and how accidents can be prevented.
As many tradespeople work from height on a regular basis, it can become easy to forget the associated risks. However, with these latest HSE figures in mind, it is crucial that regulations are adhered to and that working at height should be adequately planned, supervised and carried out by competent workers.
Not only this, but access equipment should always be looked after with great care and purchased from reputable suppliers and manufacturers, in order to ensure accidents are avoided.
Here are some tips for helping customers to select and maintain their access equipment to an excellent standard:
Support customers in choosing equipment that meets industry standards
Professionals will know that they should always use high-quality equipment appropriate for the work they are carrying out. However, some tradespeople may not know that their ladders and access equipment must meet the correct standard for professional use.
Therefore, merchants can help them to look out for the correct classification markings when purchasing their equipment. Ladders labelled with an EN131 Professional marking for trade, heavy duty and industrial use should be used in this circumstance.
Purchasing a ladder with an EN131 certification for trade use means the ladder has been tested to the safety levels required for professional grade jobs, ensuring the user peace of mind that their equipment is of a high quality.
Encourage customers to invest in accessories
Ladder accessories can help to reduce hazards that have the potential to cause accidents, fatal or otherwise.
Not only can accessories, such as buckets and caddies, may help prevent falls caused by an untidy work environment but can also reduce the need to take frequent trips up and down the ladder in question, in turn reducing the risk of slips.
What’s more, accessories such as paint cup holders, can help prevent spillages of substances such as paint, which can also be hazardous.
Discuss and provide information on risk assessments
As a manufacturer of access equipment, Werner is serious about encouraging best practice when it comes to working at height. To demonstrate this commitment Werner has created a wealth of guides, as part of its Stepping Up to Safety initiative, to support tradespeople in working at height safely.
Merchants are encouraged to signpost these resources to customers who want to know more about how to look after their access equipment and how to use it appropriately.
Performing risk assessments is a huge part of ensuring safety when working at height and therefore it is essential that before anyone attempts to use access equipment that robust checks take place.
Of course, employers should always ensure that workers understand what is required of them. However, merchants can help play a part in ensuring safety by advising customers on how they can check their ladders and towers, but general surroundings too.
When it comes to ladders the user should be checking the following for damage each time they use their ladder:
- Stiles
- Rungs
- Feet
- Braces & Cross Tubes
- Platforms
- Locking mechanisms
Ladder users should be advised that if there are any signs of wear and tear, loosening, bending, or a lack of stability, they must inform their team and employer, if relevant, straight away and ensure that the equipment isn’t used under any circumstances.
A note on access equipment – mixing and matching
Users who require access to work for longer than 30 minutes should consider enlisting a tower for their needs. It is important that customers are aware that access tower equipment should be subject to the same inspections and audits as ladders.
It is also vital that users are advised not to mix and match tower components when it comes to the assembly of access tower equipment. Under EN 1004-1:2020, the European Product Standard for towers which dictates the safety requirements, materials, design loads and dimensions, it is not the components that are approved but the overall tower structure, comprised of the components.
Therefore, failing to assemble towers using the components supplied with those listed in the manufacturer’s manual may mean that the tower’s certification could be invalid and the tower may pose a risk to safety of those using it.
The HSE figures showing the prevalence of falls from height makes clear that more needs to be done to prevent accidents, which can sometimes be fatal.
Whilst employers and employees should ensure that a ladder or any access equipment used is carefully looked after and commissioned appropriately, merchants can do their bit to ensure that the industry becomes better educated on the dangers of working at height and what can be done to prevent potentially life-threatening accidents.
Media contact:
HROC PR Ltd.
T: 0121 454 9707