How to minimise work at height

Work at height heirarchy matrix.

All contractors should be working to a height safety hierarchy, in order to prevent onsite accidents.

Most people recognise the hazards associated with work at height naturally, through a sense of vulnerability. They feel insecure when at height and there is a risk of falling, and they feel exposed when passing below work at height in case something falls.

For many years the normal solution to the first hazard, was to issue a harness and lanyard (frequently with no training in its use), and for the second hazard, to cordon off the area below the work.

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There has been a long established safety hierarchy which identifies the best route to follow when solving safety problems – avoid, prevent, and then mitigate. This hierarchy has now been broken into nine easy steps, to assist the selection of the best solution to any work at height problem.

First and foremost, we should still avoid the need to work at height. We should try and find another way of carryout out the work. One example would be to preassemble components prior to them being lifted (see pics below), and to modularise the construction process.

Any action, or work sequence, that removes the need for some work at height, is of primary safety benefit to any construction project. Having said that, we must recognise that avoidance is not always possible, and that some work at height may be necessary.

At this point we should also recognise that measures, which offer protection to all, are better than measures which protect an individual, and also that measures which offer protection without the need to act, are better than those that require some action to be protected.

We are therefore looking for collective passive safety. This is the next level in the work at height hierarchy, and the subsequent route through the hierarchy is best shown as a matrix.

On the left of the matrix we have the four levels of protection, prevention, minimising height and consequence, minimising consequence, and doing nothing. We have two columns within the matrix, collective measures, and personal measures. We then follow down the matrix, zigzagging between the collective and personal columns, as shown.

Examples of preventative measures that offer collective protection would include edge protection systems, advanced guardrails, and working platforms.