How do you assess the potential risk to employees working at height?

Recently I was asked: "How do you assess the potential risk to employees working at height?"

The risk assessment process for work at height is not different for other risk assessment, it is just more focussed. As with all risk assessments, there is a hierarchy of control that needs to be considered, in this case it is: avoid, prevent, mitigate.  There should be thought given to ways in avoiding (or at least minimising) the need for work at height in any workplace, including construction environments. Where the need for work at height cannot be avoided, consideration must be given to preventing falls from height (such as by the provision of safe work platforms with adequate edge protection, or even by the use of a harness and lanyard arrangement designed to prevent the worker from reaching the edge from which they can fall (e.g. 2m lanyard anchored 3 m from the edge). In the event of prevention not being possible, then there should be consideration of mitigation of the effects of the fall (such as by the use of safety nets, fall arrest equipment or even air bags).

 

Perhaps the thing that is most often missing from a work at height risk assessment (or the accompanying method statement) is the rescue plan - how to retrieve safely a worker from a work at height (especially a fall involving fall arrest equipment) situation should the need arise. Few people are aware of the short period of time (about 15 minutes) in which a suspended, unconscious person should be rescued in to avoid (potentially fatal) suspension trauma.

 

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