Falls incidents prompt safety warning

As Safety Solutions is penning this news story, we can see outside our office window an example of safety risks being taken by everyday workers.

A tradesman appears to be working on the sloping roof of a two-storey residential house without any form of fall arrest system or fall prevention measures in place.

He can certainly move around freely to get his work done, but unfortunately, all we can think is: placing one foot wrong could mean a very different outcome to his day.

Under the WHS Act, a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) has the responsibility to ensure that workers and other persons are not exposed to health and safety risks^[1], and further, under WHS regulations, the PCBU has more specific obligations to manage the risk of a fall by a person from one level to another. This includes minimising the risk of falls, so far as is reasonably practicable, by providing a fall prevention device, work positioning system or a fall arrest system.

Failure to do so may lead to prosecution — and at worst, the death or injury of a worker.

During 2013/14 there were 4170 workers compensation claims for falls from heights at a cost of more than $49 million.

SafeWork NSW has issued a warning to businesses and workers to take extreme care following the deaths of two workers and eight others being seriously injured in falls from heights since the start of 2016.

On 31 January, a 62-year-old asbestos removalist died when he fell about 8 m while removing sheets from a factory roof at Greenacre, in Sydney.

Previously, a 73-year-old builder reportedly died on 7 January, when he fell around 1.3 m from a mobile scaffold while repairing a property at Hamilton East near Newcastle.

Other incidents included a 62-year-old barman at a Manly golf club, who suffered a fractured skull after falling from a ladder while attempting to clean gutters, and a 33-year-old labourer at Orange, who broke his leg after falling around 3 m while removing sheeting from a roof.

Executive Director of SafeWork NSW Peter Dunphy said working from heights was hazardous and businesses needed to have safety systems in place.

“These incidents highlight that a fall, even from a relatively low height, can result in serious injury or death,” said Dunphy.

“Tragically, most of these incidents could have been prevented had safe work systems such as safety harnesses or work platforms been used. We’re urging NSW businesses to review their safety systems so that no more workers are injured.”

Under NSW work health and safety laws, businesses are also obliged to provide workers with information, instruction, training and supervision in risk control procedures — and workers are required to follow those procedures.

Businesses can prevent falls from heights by:

• carrying out work on the ground or on a solid construction;
• providing a fall prevention device such as a secure fence, edge protection, working platforms or covers;
• providing a work positioning system, which includes any plant or structure, other than a temporary work platform, that safely holds a worker in a work position;
• providing a fall arrest system such as an industrial safety net, catch platform or safety harness system.

“Whether it’s making sure a step ladder is positioned properly or that a new worker is inducted and aware of the risks, everyone needs to work together to prevent falls from heights,” added Dunphy.

In fairness, regarding our observations to the tradie outside our window, we do not know whether he, or his supervisor, first conducted a risk assessment and put in place control measures to ensure work carried out on the roof was done so in a safe manner. However, according to the Queensland WorkCover website, any construction work that involves the risk of a person falling more than two metres is considered high-risk construction work. Therefore, without any type of fall arrest system or fall prevention device, working from a height of around 5 m, on a sloping surface, is a close call waiting to happen.

For more information on this topic, see falls and falls in the construction industry as well as codes of practice for managing the risk of falls at workplaces and safe work on roofs part 1 on the SafeWork website.

Reference

[1] NSW WorkCover, Managing the risk of falls at workplaces code of practice, July 2015, <http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/15207/managing-the-risk-of-falls-at-workplaces-code-of-practice-July-2015-3566.pdf>.