Working at Height 1. PURPOSE 1.1 To ensure that any work at height is carried out in accordance with the legal requirements and associated guidance. This includes the use of scaffolds, towers, ladders, stepladders and roof work. 2. SCOPE 2.1 This procedure applies to all areas of operation within the University, with effect from 1 August 2015 and includes both University personnel and Contractors. 3. DEFINITIONS Height Work A place is at height if a person could be injured falling from it, even if it is at or below ground level. No specific height is identified. Includes moving around at a place of work (except by a staircase in a permanent workplace). 4. RESPONSIBILITIES Vice- Chancellor 4.1 On behalf of the Council the Vice-Chancellor has executive responsibility to ensure, that the requirements of the health and safety legislation and the University health and safety policy are complied with. The Vice- Chancellor will ensure that responsibility for health and safety is properly assigned and accepted at all levels within the University. Deans, Directors, Heads of Schools and Departments and Research Institute Directors and Managers 4.2 Are responsible for ensuring that all work at height is managed in accordance with this procedure. 1
Line Managers / Supervisors 4.3 Are responsible for: ensuring that risk assessments are undertaken and maintained; establishing and maintaining control measures; choosing suitable equipment; ensuring competence and that basic standards are maintained throughout the duration of the job. 5. PROCEDURE 5.1 Basic Requirement When organising for work to be done the following steps should be followed: Avoid the need to work at height where possible; When working at height cannot be avoided, use work equipment or other measures to prevent falls; When the risk of a fall cannot be eliminated, use controls to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall. When planning and undertaking work at height it is also necessary to take the following into account: Weather conditions that could compromise worker safety; Check that the place (e.g. a roof) where the work at is to be undertaken is safe; Stop materials or objects from falling or, if that is not reasonably practicable then take suitable and sufficient measures to make sure no one can be injured, e.g. use exclusion zones to keep people away or mesh on scaffold to stop materials falling off; Plan for emergencies and rescues. 5.2 Carry out and maintain the necessary Risk Assessments The Manager of each area ensures that before any work commences, a suitable and sufficient risk assessment has been made taking into account all the necessary precautions. 5.3 Establish and maintain the control measures necessary to carry out the work The Line Manager controlling the work shall ensure that the people carrying out the work are competent to work at heights and that any equipment used i.e. scaffolds, towers, ladders, crawling boards, harnesses and lines are all fit for purpose and correctly maintained. Only competent people must be used to erect/inspect/dismantle equipment such as scaffolds and towers. Ensure all personnel using work 2
equipment for working at height have been trained in its use and are competent. 5.4 Choice of equipment In considering which type of equipment should be used managers should consider using the online HSE resource, WAIT (Work at height Access equipment Information Toolkit) that offers possible solutions. The website provides details of common types of equipment used for work at height. 5.5 Training Managers must ensure that staff have been provided with the necessary information, instruction and training to enable them to use the equipment mentioned in this procedure safely. 5.6 Basic Standards The Line Manager must ensure that regular monitoring of the work takes place to ensure that all the necessary precautions are in place and being maintained throughout the duration of the job. These include: Scaffolds o Must be designed for the intended work and only be erected by competent persons. o Must be inspected at least once per week by a competent person to ensure it remains fit for use and before use after any inclement weather. o Must be stable, tied and braced to prevent collapse. o Uprights should rest on steel base plates. o Soft ground must be levelled /compacted and timber sole plates used to spread the load. o Scaffold platforms from which a person may fall more than 2 metres should be fitted with guard rails and toe boards. o Brick guards should be provided where materials/tools are likely to fall from the scaffold. Towers o Must be erected and dismantled in accordance with manufacturer s instructions by people who have been trained and are competent to do so; o Know the maximum height to which tower should be erected or, for free standing towers, know the maximum height to least base ratio. This is normally recommended as a maximum height to least base ratio of 3:1; 3
o Tower platforms from which a person may fall more than 2 metres should be fitted with guard rails and toe boards; o Toe boards should be provided where materials/tools are likely to fall from the tower; o Tower must rest on a firm base, if mobile, make sure castors are locked; o Must have safe means of access, NEVER climb up the outside, it may overturn; o Never use a tower in strong winds; as a support for ladders, trestles or other access equipment; with broken or missing parts; or with incompatible components; o When moving a tower you should always: o Reduce the height to a maximum of 4m; o check that there are no power lines or other obstructions overhead; o check that the ground is firm, level and free from potholes; and o push or pull using manual effort from the base only; o Never move a tower while people or materials are on the tower, or in windy conditions. Leaning Ladders o Ladders should have appropriate feet in good condition and be supported on firm ground. o Wherever practicable the top of the ladder should be securely fixed so that it cannot slip either outwards or sideways and have a strong upper resting point, i.e. do not rest a ladder against weak upper surfaces (e.g. glazing or plastic gutters); o If this is not possible then base fixing is acceptable, or alternatively a second person should foot the ladder. o you could also use an effective stability device. o Make sure ladder is in good condition. o When using o Only carry light materials and tools read the manufacturers labels on the ladder and assess the risks; o Don t overreach make sure your belt buckle (navel) stays within the stiles; o Make sure it is long enough or high enough for the task; o Make sure ladder is strong enough for the work in question, don t overload it consider the combined weight of the workers and the equipment or materials they are carrying before working at height. Check the pictogram or label on the ladder for information. Note - only one person at a time to be on ladder; o Make sure the ladder angle is at 75 you should use the 1 in 4 rule (i.e. 1 unit out for every 4 units up); o Always grip the ladder and face the ladder rungs while climbing or descending don t slide down the stiles; o Don t try to move or extend ladders while standing on the rungs; 4
o Don t work off the top three rungs, and try to make sure the ladder extends at least 1 m (three rungs) above where you are working; o Don t stand ladders on moveable objects, such as pallets, bricks, lift trucks, tower scaffolds, excavator buckets, vans, or mobile elevating work platforms; o Avoid holding items when climbing (consider using a tool belt); o Don t work within 6 m horizontally of any overhead power line, unless it has been made dead or it is protected with insulation. Use a non-conductive ladder (e.g. fibreglass or timber) for any electrical work; o Maintain three points of contact when climbing (this means a hand and two feet) and wherever possible at the work position; o Where you cannot maintain a handhold, other than for a brief period (e.g. to hold a nail while starting to knock it in, starting a screw etc.), you will need to take other measures to prevent a fall or reduce the consequences if one happened; Stepladders When using a stepladder to carry out a task: o Check all four stepladder feet are in contact with the ground and the steps are level; o Only carry light materials and tools; o Don t overreach; o Don t stand and work on the top three steps (including a step forming the very top of the stepladder) unless there is a suitable handhold; o Ensure any locking devices are engaged; o Try to position the stepladder to face the work activity and not side on. However, there are occasions when a risk assessment may show it is safer to work side on, e.g. in a room when you can t engage the stepladder locks to work face on because of space restraints in narrow aisles, but you can fully lock it to work side on; o Try to avoid work that imposes a side loading, such as side-on drilling through solid materials (e.g. bricks or concrete); o Where side-on loadings cannot be avoided, you should prevent the steps from tipping over, e.g. by tying the steps. Otherwise, use a more suitable type of access equipment; o Maintain three points of contact at the working position. This means two feet and one hand, or when both hands need to be free for a brief period, two feet and the body supported by the stepladder; o When deciding if it is safe to carry out a particular task on a stepladder where you cannot maintain a handhold (e.g. to put a box on a shelf, install a smoke detector on a ceiling), this needs to be assessed, taking into account: o The height of the task; o Whether a handhold is still available to steady yourself before and after the task; o Whether it is light work; o Whether it avoids side loading; 5
o Whether it avoids overreaching; o Whether the stepladder can be tied (e.g. when side-on working). Roof work o On roofs covered with fragile materials i.e. asbestos/non-asbestos cement sheeting, roof ladders or crawling boards must be used. o Never step onto a fragile roof. o Observe warning signs wherever displayed. o On flat roofs, edge protection must be provided to prevent falls. o Similar barriers must be provided and erected round openings and roof lights. o Sloping roofs, usually over 10 degree pitch, barriers must be erected at the edges and be strong enough to stop a person who is rolling down the slope. o Smooth surfaces made slippery by moisture, ice, snow, moss can be particularly hazardous. Note: Hard hats must be worn when working at heights or in the vicinity of scaffolds and towers. Also the wearing of harnesses and use with a line is a must if this has been deemed necessary by the assessment. 5.7 Inspection The Line Manager should ensure that all equipment used for working at height is visually checked either daily or before being used and that recorded inspections are carried out as specified below. Note: if the inspection shows that any equipment is not safe then STOP WORK and either fix the faults or scrap the equipment. Scaffolds and Towers o All towers must be inspected following assembly and then at suitable regular intervals by a competent person. In addition, if the tower is used for construction work and a person could fall 2 metres or more from the working platform, then it must be inspected following assembly and then every seven days. Stop work if the inspection shows it is not safe to continue, and put right any faults. o The result of an inspection should be recorded and kept until the next inspection is recorded. Leaning Ladders and Stepladders o Examine at regular intervals (at least annually) and before each use for damage/defects. o Employers need to make sure that any ladder or stepladder is both suitable for the work task and in a safe condition before use. As a guide, only use ladders or stepladders that: o Have no visible defects. They should have a pre-use check each working day; o Have an up-to-date record of the detailed visual inspections carried out regularly by a competent person. These should be done in accordance with the manufacturer s instructions. 6
Ladders that are part of a scaffold system still have to be inspected every seven days as part of the scaffold inspection requirements; o Are suitable for the intended use, i.e. are strong and robust enough for the job. HSE recommends British Standard (BS) Class 1 Industrial or BS EN 131 ladders for use at work; o Have been maintained and stored in accordance with the manufacturer s instructions. o A detailed visual inspection is similar to pre-use checks, in that it is used to spot defects. It can be done in-house by a competent person (pre-use checks should be part of a user s training) and detailed visual inspections should be recorded. o When doing an inspection, look for: o twisted, bent or dented stiles; o cracked, worn, bent or loose rungs; o missing or damaged tie rods; o cracked or damaged welded joints, loose rivets or damaged stays. Sample checklists are shown in Appendix 1. 6. REFERENCE DOCUMENTS The Health and Safety at Work Order (NI) Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) The Work at Height Regulations 2005 (as amended) HSE A technical guide to the selection and use of fall prevention and arrest equipment RR302 HSE Working at Height - indg401 HSE Safe use of ladders and stepladders - indg455 HSE Working on roofs - INDG284 HSE Tower Scaffolds cis10 7
Appendix 1 Checklist for pre-use checks and annual recorded inspection of Step Ladders CHECK HSE Advice LOCKING BARS Should not be bent or the fixings worn or damaged as the ladder could collapse FEET Should not be missing, worn or damaged as the ladder could slip. PLATFORM Should not be split or buckled, STEPS/TREADS Should not be contaminated as they could be slippery. STRENGTH AND STABILITY Fixings should not be loose as ladder could collapse. STILES Should not be bent or damaged as the ladder could buckle or collapse. Step ladder No. Step ladder No. Step ladder No. Checklist for pre-use checks and annual recorded inspection of Leaning Ladders CHECK Ladder No. Ladder No. Ladder No. HSE Advice FEET Should not be missing, worn or damaged as the ladder could slip. STILES Should not be bent or split as the ladder could collapse. RUNGS Should not be bent, missing or loose as the ladder could become unstable. 8