Element 10: Working at Height

Question 1

Work activities involving WAH

Answer 1

• Steerl erection
• Scaffolding
• Roofing
• Demolition
• Welder
• Pipe fitters
• Painters
• Cleaners

Question 2

WAH ; Basic Hazards and Risk Factors to remember

Answer 2

• Design - of the existingstructures or materials to be worked on and the design of the task
• Distance of the fall - has a direct bearing on the serverity of injury. Distance should be minimised
• Roofs - fragile, sloping and fflat. People are liable to fall through fragile roofs, roof lights, holes. Suitable barriers should be in place
• Voids - beneath roofs, shoul dbe treated as confined spaces. Often dusty with restructed access over fragile materials
• Deterioration of materials - unsound materials may collapse under a person weight causing a fall, materials can break of and hit people or structures below
• Unprotected edges - on access platforms / scaffolds; increases risk of falls or fallig objects
• Unstable or poorly maintained access equipment -Scaffold may collapse under certain conditions due to incorrect erection, ladders may be unsecured, poorly maintained, misused or at the wrong angle
• Weather - may cause materials or people to be blown offa roof or scafold, moisture can cause slippery surfaces, cold can cause loss of dexterity
• Falling materials - loose building materials and waste materials may fall from a height if poorly stacked or because constructions are crumbling, no materials should be dropped or thrown from height where there is a risk of personal injury

Question 3

Methods of avoiding work at height

Answer 3

Risk assessment should consider how activity at height can be avoided, in mst cases avoidance will not be neccessary and control measures for working at height are needed. Employers should adopt the following hierarchy

1. Avoid work at height
2. Prevent falls of people or objects e.g. provide appropriate work equipment. Collective measures preferred to individual
3. Minimise the distance and consequences of falls, e.g provide fall arrest equipment or safety netting

Question 4

Main precautions to prevent falls and falling materials

Good design:

Answer 4

important design factors include:

• Safety features of access equipment e.g advance guardrails
• How equiipment is erected and positioned
• Task design, including methods used to lift and lower equipment and materials to and from work at height locations
• Security of the access equipment, particularly in inclement weather

Question 5

Main precautions to prevent falls and falling material

Planning and supervision of work

Answer 5

Work at height needs to be planned in advance, with consideration of selection and use of work equipment. A safe system of work should take account of:

• Levels of supervision of workers required e.g. fall arrest equipment will require greater supervision than work on a mobile tower.
• Weather conditions, e.g. carrying out maintenance on an icy roof or working in rainy conditions on a slippery surface. If adverse weather is likely then work should be postponed

Question 6

Outline considerations of Emergency rescue Plans

Answer 6

• There should be no reliance on emergency services
• Simle systems may surffice, but more detailed systems may be required depending on the circumstances
• Those involved must be suitable trained and the required equiment must be available

Question 7

Outline measures to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall

Answer 7

Where work at height cannot be avoided, employers must minimse the distance a person can fall, and if not the consequences of the fall.

Equipment such as fall restraint, fall arrest or soft landing systems such as safety nets or air bags can be used.

In all such cases, operativs must receive adequate training and instruction to appreciate the dangers of working at height, as well as how to service and use the equipment and correct methods of use

Question 8

Outline the requirements for head protection

Answer 8

Hard hats are PPE and offer protection against small falling objects e.g. rubble or hand tools. They are not designed to protect against large, heavy items.

Hard hats should be worn henever there is a foreseeable risk of injury to the head

Question 9

Inspection requirements for work equipment

Answer 9

The Work at height Regulations 2005 require:

• Visual or rigorous inspection by a competent person for safety purposes
• Testing where appropriate

An inpection must be made after the equipment has been assembled and as often as is necessary to ensure safety.

Any platform used in construction higher than 2m must be inspected in its place of use before being used. the inspection is only valid for seven days

Inspection reports should be retained.

Question 10

Outline causes of a collapse of independently tied scaffold

Answer 10

• Overloaded work platform
• Scaffold built on soft ground without sole boards
• Scaffold not adequatley tied to building
• Insufficient bracing
• Standards not upright
• Standards bent, buckled or heavily corroded
• High Winds
• Incorrcet couplers
• Struck by mobile plant
• Scaffold not properly inspected
• Not built correctly or by incompetent workers