Working at height toolbox talk

The point

Falls from height kill more people in British construction than anything else, and some of us will be off the ground today, so we take five minutes before anyone climbs.

The hazard, in plain terms

You do not need to be up high for a fall to finish you. Coming off a stepladder onto concrete can mean a broken wrist, a smashed skull, or worse. More than six out of every ten people killed this way came off a ladder, a scaffold, a platform or a roof edge, or went straight through a fragile roof. Those brittle sheets and old rooflights look solid. They are not. They let go without warning, and there is nothing to grab on the way down.

A fall that does not kill can still mean a broken back, a head injury, months off work. And most of it happens on smaller sites and smaller jobs, not the big dramatic stuff.

The rule is simple: if you can fall far enough to get hurt, you are working at height. That includes the edge of a slab and the third rung of a stepladder.

What to do

• Stay on the ground if the job can be done from there. Long-reach tools, lower the work down. The safest height is no height.
• Pick kit that protects everyone before kit that protects one person. Guardrails, a proper scaffold, a tower, a MEWP first. A harness is the last line, not the first.
• Check before you climb. Ladder feet and rungs, scaffold tag, guardrails, toe boards. Scaffolds get inspected every seven days and after rough weather - if the tag is out of date or something looks wrong, stop and say so.
• Keep ladders for short, light jobs - about half an hour. Tie the ladder or have it footed, keep three points of contact, and if you cannot reach, come down and move it.
• Watch the weather. Strong wind will take your balance. If it is picking up, come down.
• Know the rescue plan before you go up. If someone is hurt up there, or left hanging in a harness, who gets them down, and how?

What to never do

• Never walk on a fragile roof. The sheets and rooflights will not hold you. Work from underneath, or from a proper platform.
• Never overreach or overload a ladder, and never lean one against something weak, like plastic guttering.
• Never carry on at height in wind or weather that is taking your balance.
• Never go up on kit you have not been shown how to use. Say so, and we will sort it.

Questions to ask the crowd

The talk ends in a conversation. These are the ones that start it.

• "Where's the nearest place on this site someone could fall far enough to get hurt?"
• "What have we got coming up this week that we could do from the ground, or off a proper platform, instead of a ladder?"
• "If someone came off a height right now, or was left hanging in a harness, what exactly would we do, and who does what?"