Safe Work At Height?

In the UK, new Work at Height Regulations were introduced on 6 April this year. These require employers to undertake risk assessments before working at height and establish a hierarchy of safety measures. Attention has focused in particular on the use of ladders for working, with the emphasis placed on ladders being used for short duration work or to gain access to a work platform.

In the Netherlands there has been the same emphasis on tightening up on the use of ladders, while in France one of the main impacts has been to enforce safe working at height in industries other than construction, where regulations were already well established.

The new UK regulations are prompting rental companies to invest in new types of equipment. Alan Studdart, head of technical services at Hewden, told Access International; “we have discarded several products, for example decorator's trestles, which we feel do not offer a safe method of working. These have been replaced by products such as podium steps which are far safer.”

See www.khl.com for a fuller version of this story. See also IPAF News this issue.