Falling from heights
Serious injuries and death are still, tragically, far from uncommon caused by working at height. Many of these serious injuries and deaths result from falls from 20-30 feet or less.
In a recent health & safety prosecution case relating to a Barnet wholesaler, an employee died due to a fall from a stepladder. It is all too easy to consider that such regular activities as work on ladders should not require consideration of safe systems of work, but as falls can have such devastating consequences, use of ladders and working at height are some of the most important things to be aware of.
In this case, the deceased was working as a handyman and was instructed to build some shelving in the storeroom by the site manager. He fell and upon inspection of the stepladder it was found to be in poor and inadequate condition. The wholesaler has been fined and the HSE state that this type of risk is clearly foreseeable, and a full site-specific risk assessment and plan should have been undertaken.
In addition to working on ladders, other types of tragic accidents at height commonly involve working on roofs, which can contain loose tiles and skylights which may not be immediately visible.
