Health & safety bulletin
Heras Fencing Warning Signs
2nd October 2008
At our safety time out on 25th January, all site teams were asked to cease work at 11.00am, look round their place of work and make recommendations as to what could be done to improve the safety of anyone on their site.
The feedback was very positive and each point has now been investigated and followed up where necessary. One issue that was raised by several people was the use of Heras fencing on site re-brands, the difficulty of moving it and the lack of visibility to oncoming vehicles (versus lightweight reflective rigid barriers).
Following lengthy discussions, we have concluded that securing the work area from pedestrians using Heras fencing is much safer; however, there is an issue with its visibility.
Our procedure is to always use our van as a physical barrier where possible, and to ensure that all MEWPs or mobile scaffold towers are at least a metre inside the fencing to protect from 'vehicle nudging'; we do accept, however, that some site specific situations prevent the van being used, so have procured suitable warning signs.
The signs (pictured below) are big enough to be noticed, are fitted to the fencing using tie wraps and should be fitted to each elevation of fencing that could be impacted by a moving vehicle. Tie wraps should always be cut off flush to prevent an associated stabbing incident.
