Height safety requires a better approach

According to Philip Brown, managing director of Access & Safety Consultants Australia, the job of making industrial worksites safe for those working at heights is one that is seemingly unending. Recently, his company completed a major height safety audit at the Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) site in Abbotsford, Victoria.

The CUB site is sprawled across 8.5 ha and has a total roof area of 6.8 ha, 4 km of catwalks and stairways and over 250 ladders. Potential fall hazards included edge of roofs, skylights, ends of unguarded walkways, tank tops, ladders, cramped platforms with low head height and noncompliant equipment. The reality of potential falls of up to 20 m in various places presented quite a challenge.

The first stage of the work were the roof areas, says Brown. Some 68,000 m2 of roof areas with over 50 separate roofs and buildings from warehouse roofs to cooling tower platforms was just the start. He says the second stage also included internal areas: production, packaging, storage, distribution, bottling, cellars and engine room.

"The difficulties in this sort of work centred around uncovering the unknown hazards - it's important to identify every fall hazard and the only way to do that is to walk, climb and explore every inch. On a project the scale of CUB the biggest challenge is "to be able to map the areas and hazards and to be sure all areas are covered", says Brown.

"There are two basic issues common to most existing buildings involving height safety. Buildings evolve. Work is done over the life of the building to install, repair and maintain equipment located at heights, on roofs, in ceiling spaces, on plant platforms. Work to address access and safety issues to this equipment is usually on an 'as required' ad hoc basis. Often people simply do the best they can to attempt to solve their particular problem. At the best this leaves areas with inconsistent, noncompliant and fragmented systems to prevent falls. Without a structured audit these areas remain the 'forgotten zone' with unseen fall hazards."

Brown says that "statistics show that most deaths from falls occur between 2-3 m. At the CUB site there are potentials for 20 m falls so the possibilities of a death are very real."

He says "serious and permanent injury and even death can occur from not only high level falls but low levels as well and roof areas are often the 'forgotten zone'. They are hidden from view and often accessed by single contractors such as AC/plumbing etc and as such the hazards can often go unnoticed. There is also a lot of confusion surrounding what are acceptable, compliant safety systems and workers are often putting themselves at risk to get the job done."

Furthermore, says Brown, the height safety industry is "...largely unregulated. There is no requirement for plans, permits or inspections. The standard building practices and methodology of design, construction and inspection using qualified personnel are not followed. There is a general lack of understanding and confusion in combining the performance-based requirements of the OH&S Act and regulations with the prescriptive requirements of Australian Standards to arrive at workable, compliant height safety systems", adding, "at the moment, without a common, structured, consistent approach there is confusion and while there is confusion the dangers of falls will remain high".