Page 936 - Xmo Strata - Bulletin Archive

Health, Safety & Environmental Bulletin No 345

28 February 2013

Work at Height Life Saving Rule Breach

Please see enclosed self-explanatory bulletin that was shared with us by JCI.

Working at height is amongst the most hazardous activities we carry out on site, and the rules and
procedures put in place to control the risks are to protect you from harm, as well as to protect us and
our customers from potential prosecution.

If you feel any procedure or control measure is not appropriate for a specific site, please contact your
line manager before proceeding.

The statistics recently released by the HSE for the 2011/12 period are a reminder of why it is so
important to follow the procedures:

In 2011/12, there were 118 fatalities reported, 17 fatalities due to fall from heights, and 8 of these were
in the construction industry, all after working at height regulations were introduced in 2005 because of
the high number of injuries and fatalities reported.

The number of major injuries due to fall from height in 2011/12 was 3067, with 653 of those in the
construction industry.

Incidents reported that resulted in more than three days off work due to fall from height was 4294, with
516 of those related to the construction industry.

It is estimated that falls from height resulted in 374,000 working days being lost in 2011/12.

We insist on you completing working at height checklists, PASMA checklist and MEWP checklists,
because this is a high risk activity and we want to ensure that all potential hazards are identified; please
make sure you follow our safe systems of work and stay safe
.

The routine decisions we make on a daily basis are often more as a force of habit than something we spend time
thinking about – looking before we cross the road, moving out of the way of falling objects etc. But what about
decisions that are just as important as these that we may think about, but choose to ignore – like seeing
someone doing something unsafe, or not eliminating a simple hazard when we spot it? These decisions are just
as important, and we want these to become just as instinctive as crossing the road. Please visit YouTube and
type ‘Xmo Strata reverse thinking’ into the search box – let’s make each decision count this year!