From time to time we are asked if we can provide method statement templates. Unfortunately these have to be unique and created by yourselves as is applicable to your site, working conditions, equipment and operatives capabilities. It just isn’t possible to have a one size fits all generic method statement.

However we have tried to help by taking the frame work from the planning section of our (73 page) Red Rescue Book and created a guide template for rescue planning, this we hope will get your creative juices flowing. At worst if you use this template as is, it will be better than having nothing planned in the event of needing to carry out a rescue at height.

Recommendations for Height Safety Rescue

It is essential that people who work at height together with their co‐workers and are at risk of falling have the capacity to perform rescue for their co‐workers quickly, whilst being safe, minimising the effects of suspension trauma in the critical time it takes to recover someone.

Many safety professionals naturally assume that once a fall has been arrested then the fall protection system has successfully completed its job. Unfortunately, this is not the case. An operative suspended in an upright position with the legs dangling in a harness of any type is subject to suspension trauma and orthostatic intolerance. Fall victims can slow the onset of suspension trauma by pushing down vigorously with the legs, by positioning their body in a slight leg-high position or, by standing up using a rescue step. Harness design and fall injuries may prevent these actions.

Danger for those providing rescue

The responsibility to have a post-fall rescue system in place lies with the employer, so below are the four critical phases of rescuing a suspended operative: 1. Before the fall 2. At fall arrest 3. Suspension 4. Post-fall rescue Each phase presents unique safety challenges. Suspension trauma can be influenced by all aspects of the fall, so they are all equally important. As with many aspects of safety, increasing the safety in one phase can compromise safety in the others. Whatever training operatives have received will determine how they respond to different phases. · Before the fall The key issue of fall protection prior to a fall is compliance. If a harness is too uncomfortable, too inconvenient or interferes too much with task completion, operatives may not use the equipment or may modify it (illegally) to make it more tolerable. A second major point is how far an operative falls before his fall is arrested. The greater the fall, the greater the stress on the body when the fall is arrested. The longer the lanyard the longer the fall distance, however, the shorter the lanyard, the more often it will have to be repositioned when operatives are mobile. It is with this in mind that Leading Edge Supplies Ltd developed restraint lifelines as the preferred method of working because it allows maximum flexibility. Working in restraint prevents the operative from falling, yet should a fall occur the arrest distance is kept to a minimum (limited fall). · Fall Arrest The whole concept of fall protection is that operatives who fall will be stopped by a tethering system. Unfortunately, the posture of the falling operative is unpredictable. Depending on the harness attachment point and the position of the operative’s body at fall arrest, different harness attachments offer different advantages. An attachment near the shoulders means that any drag from the lanyard will serve to position the operative’s body in an upright position so the forces are distributed from head to foot. The head is somewhat protected if the legs and body precede it in the fall, but this offers some disadvantages after the fall arrest is completed. · Suspension Many safety professionals naturally assume that once a fall has been arrested then the fall protection system has successfully completed its job. Unfortunately, this is not the case. An operative suspended in an upright position with the legs dangling in a harness of any type is subject to suspension trauma and orthostatic intolerance. Fall victims can slow the onset of suspension trauma by pushing down vigorously with the legs, by positioning their body in a slight leg-high position or, by standing up. Harness design and fall injuries may prevent these actions. · Rescue Rescue must come rapidly to minimise the dangers of suspension trauma. The circumstances together with the lanyard attachment point will determine the possibility of self-rescue. In situations where self-rescue is not possible, operatives must be supervised at all times. Regardless of whether an operative can self-rescue or must rely on others, time is of the essence because an operative may lose consciousness in only a few minutes. For conscious casualties Leading Edge recommends (where possible) that those suspended keep their legs moving to keep the blood pumping and reduce the risk of venous pooling, whilst deploying “The Edge Casualty Ladder”. For unconscious casualties the “Edge Haul” system is recommended as it facilitates the rescue of an unconscious casualty in less than ten minutes.

fall arrest and rescue at height guidance

working at height

Leading Edge Height Safety Rescue training course has been designed with our extensive knowledge and experience of construction sites in mind. We understand the operative capabilities, the scope of works involved in a project package and the constraints on access and restrictions and we have developed our training course accordingly.Being aware of the demands for fast, simple and effective rescue,when working at height Leading Edge Safety have developed a range of products and courses specifically designed for at height rescue in the construction industry, allowing typical site operatives to rescue conscious and unconscious casualties in under five minutes.

Rescue Legislation

Interpretation Of The HSE Enforcement Policy

As It Affects Rescue When Working at Height
&
How to Discharge Your Legal Responsibilities

It’s important before we look at specific legislation for rescue, that we consider what the HSE is trying to achieve and how it goes about doing this.

The way rescue legislation impacts your business is relative to the way the HSE enforces legislation and what the HSE is trying to achieve with its enforcement policy.

HSE Enforcement Policy

The appropriate use of enforcement powers, including prosecution, is
important, both to:

• · Secure compliance with the law, and to:
• · Ensure that those who have duties under it may be held to account for failures to safeguard health, safety and welfare.

We can see here that the HSE are using their powers of enforcement including their power to prosecute to achieve two primary aims, one being to make you comply with the law and secondly to hold to account those of you who have responsibility and duty of care in these areas.

HSE The purpose and method of enforcement

1. The ultimate purpose of the enforcing authorities is to ensure that
duty holders manage and control risks effectively, thus preventing harm.

2 The purpose of enforcement is to:

• Ensure that duty holders take action to deal immediately with serious
  risks
• Promote and achieve sustained compliance with the law
• Ensure that duty holders who breach health and safety requirements,
  and directors or managers who fail in their responsibilities, may be
  held to account, which may include bringing alleged offenders before
  the courts in England and Wales, or recommending prosecution in
  Scotland, in the circumstances set out later in this policy.

Enforcement is distinct from civil claims for compensation

What we see here is the HSE using enforcement of the legislation to create the necessary pressure to make you focus on what you have to do to manage and control risks on your site, and so prevent harm to your operatives.

Also to force you to take action immediately where there is a serious risk.

In other words it’s not acceptable to sit on your hands pondering the meaning of life while your operative’s lives are at risk. As soon as you are aware of the risk you must take action immediately, or the HSE will come (from the dark side) and get you.

It’s also worth noting that HSE enforcement is separate and distinct from any civil actions that may be taken against you for compensation.

HSE Proportionality

• In practice, applying the principle of proportionality means that
  enforcing authorities should take particular account of how far the duty
  holder has fallen short of what the law requires, and the extent of the risks
  to people arising from the breach.
• Some health and safety duties are specific and absolute. Others
  require action so far as is reasonably practicable. Enforcing authorities
  should apply the principle of proportionality in relation to both kinds of
  duty.

As we go through the Rescue Regulations it is important to consider Proportionality, by considering the extent of the risks and how far short of the law you may be presently operating.

And in doing this we will consider regulations which are:

1. Specific and absolute (you must do exactly as legislation says) and

2. Those which require action as far is reasonably practical.

Deciding what is reasonably practicable to control risks involves the exercise of judgment, that is, what’s the best and most reasonable you can do to comply with this regulation given your current circumstances and resources.

An example of specific and absolute would be: The Work Height Regulations 2005 Regulation 4 (1) & (2) which says, “Every employer shall ensure that all work at height includes planning for emergencies and rescue”. You’ve got to do that exactly, there is no room for flexibility.

An example of reasonable and practical would be: The Work at Height Regulations 2005 Regulation Schedule 5 part 1 (1) (b) which says, “The user and a sufficient number of available persons have received competent training specific to the operations envisaged, including rescue procedures”.

In this instance the HSE are expecting you to use reasonable judgment in two areas:

1. sufficient number of trained operatives (how many is sufficient? giving consideration to things like absenteeism and holidays) and

2. Competent training - specific in this instance to your operations and the provision for rescue. So how do you decide what is competent?

It would be very beneficial for management and those responsible for employees working at height to go through the WAH 2005 regulations and consider whether they are:

• Specific and Absolute
• Reasonable and Practical

This is about discharging your LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Further guidance can be found in BS 8437: 2005 

Consideration should also be given to Moral and ethical obligations

The Grounds on which The HSE will normally prosecute or recommend prosecution are:

Enforcing authorities should normally prosecute, or recommend
prosecution, where, following an investigation or other regulatory
contact, one or more of the following circumstances apply. Where:

• Death was a result of a breach of the legislation.
• The gravity of an alleged offense, taken together with the seriousness
  of any actual or potential harm, or the general record and approach
  of the offender warrants it.
• There has been reckless disregard of health and safety requirements.
• There have been repeated breaches which give rise to significant risk,
  or persistent and significant poor compliance.
• Work has been carried out without or in serious non-compliance
  with an appropriate license or safety case.
• A duty holder’s standard of managing health and safety is found to
  be far below what is required by health and safety law and to be
  giving rise to significant risk.
• There has been a failure to comply with an improvement or
  prohibition notice; or there has been a repetition of a breach that
  was subject to a formal caution.
• False information has been supplied willfully, or there has been an
  intent to deceive, in relation to a matter which gives rise to
  significant risk.
• Inspectors have been intentionally obstructed in the lawful course of
  their duties.

Enforcing authorities should identify and prosecute or recommend prosecution of individuals if they consider that a prosecution is warranted.

In particular, they should consider the management chain and the role played by individual directors and managers, and should take action against them where the inspection or investigation reveals that the offense was committed with their consent or connivance or to have been attributable to neglect on their part.

(Connivance = Knowledge of, and active or passive consent to wrongdoing)

Where appropriate, enforcing authorities should seek disqualification of
directors under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.

It’s clear that the HSE looks at the role played by individual directors and managers whether the offence was with your consent or simply passive neglect.

Action by the courts

Health and safety law gives the courts considerable scope to punish
offenders and to deter others, including imprisonment for some offenses.

Unlimited fines may be imposed by higher courts. HSE will continue to seek to raise the courts’ awareness of the gravity of health and safety offenses and of the full extent of their sentencing powers, while recognizing that it is for the courts to decide whether or not someone is guilty and what penalty if any to impose on conviction.

Death at Work

Where there has been a breach of the law leading to a work-related
death, enforcing authorities need to consider whether the circumstances
of the case might justify a charge of manslaughter (culpable homicide in
Scotland).

The police are responsible for deciding whether to pursue a
manslaughter investigation and whether to refer a case to the CPS to
consider possible manslaughter charges.

The enforcing authorities are responsible for investigating possible health and safety offenses. If in the course of their health and safety investigation, the enforcing authorities find evidence suggesting manslaughter, they should pass it on to the police. If the police or the CPS decides not to pursue a manslaughter case, the enforcing authorities will normally bring a health and safety prosecution in accordance with this policy.

In Scotland, responsibility for investigating sudden or suspicious deaths rests with the Procurator Fiscal. Unless a prosecution takes place in the same circumstances, the Procurator Fiscal is required to hold a Fatal Accident Inquiry into the circumstances of a death resulting from a work related accident.

.
Penalties for Health and Safety Offences

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (the HSW Act), section 33 (as
amended) sets out the offences and maximum penalties under health and
safety legislation.

Failing to comply with an improvement or prohibition notice, or a court remedy order (issued under the HSW Act sections 21, 22 and 42 respectively):

• Lower court maximum £20 000 and/or 6 months’ imprisonment
• Higher court maximum Unlimited fine and/or 2 years’ imprisonment

Breach of sections 2-6 of the HSW Act, which set out the general duties of employers, self-employed persons, manufacturers and suppliers to safeguard the health and safety of workers and members of the public who may be affected by work activities:

• Lower court maximum £20 000
• Higher court maximum Unlimited fine

Other breaches of the HSW Act, and breaches of ‘relevant statutory provisions’

Under the Act, which include all health and safety regulations. These impose both general and more specific requirements, such as requirements to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment or to provide suitable personal protective equipment:

• Lower court maximum £5000
• Higher court maximum Unlimited fine

Summary

We have now covered how rescue legislation impacts your business and how the HSE plans to enforce to enforce legislation and by now you should have an idea of what’s required to discharge your legal responsibilities.

working at height rescue

at height rescue

Leading Edge Height Safety Rescue training courses have been designed with our extensive knowledge and experience of construction sites. We understand the operative capabilities, the scope of works involved in a project package and the constraints on access and restrictions and have developed our training course accordingly. Being aware of the demands for fast, simple and effective rescue,when working at height Leading Edge Safety have developed a range of products and courses specifically designed for at height rescue in the construction industry, allowing typical site operatives to rescue conscious and unconscious casualties in under five minutes. For more information visit:
http://www.leadingedgesafety.co.uk/rescue-at-height.php

Height Safety Wearing a Full Body Harness

There is so much more to wearing a full body harness to work than simply throwing it on and hoping for the best. Every type of full body harness has to be worn in the same way, whether it is standard polyester non elasticised webbing, or elasticised harnesses. There are a number of points on the harness you need to be aware of.

On the rear of the harness is the Dorsal Plate, this could be rubber, plastic or form part of the harness webbing pattern. This piece is extremely important as it prevents the “D” ring from slamming into the back of your head in fall and converting the harness in a noose. The “D” ring connects your harness to the anchorage point via intermediate attachments. Some harness have an adjustment for height via buckles on shoulder straps, the simplest rule for this type of harness is that you should not be able to touch the Dorsal Plate by reaching from behind your head or by reaching up from the lumber or lower back region. Modern harness design has taken this feature out of the system to reduce miss-use of the harness, this type of harness may be elasticised to encourage correct fitting and for the users comfort.

On the front of the harness should be a chest strap, some harnesses have a metal buckle and possibly a “D” ring on the front. This is to provide the user with a way of attaching to an anchor or safe system of work, for example ladder systems. The important thing to note with type of attachment that unless the harness is worn correctly; there is a risk the “D” ring and buckle can strike the user in the neck and under the chin if you are involved in a fall. Some harness designs have replaced this with soft loops as a front connection as this feature makes the harness safer for the user.

The chest strap, without a front attachment is much smaller and made of softer webbing, the chest strap is there to stop the shoulder straps from parting and allowing the user to fall out the front of their harness. However in both cases it is important to take care when attaching your safety equipment in relation to the “D” ring. If the anchorage point is behind you then use the rear “D” ring and vice versa if the anchor point is in front of you.

Once you have put the harness on, like a jacket, and adjusted the chest strap to so it is tight but comfortable, we need address the leg straps, buckles and sliders, there is more to it than just stepping into harness. Stepping into a commercial full body harness is considered to be extremely bad practice. Not only does it increase the risk of slips trips and falls; if the harness is placed on the ground it could pick up all kinds of dirt and contamination. There is also a risk of complacency setting in; where the user steps into the harness in a rush and fails to adjust it appropriately. In a fall a slack harness can lead to death or worse, extreme testicular trauma and severe rectal damage.

The easiest way to gage the correct tension of the leg straps is to tighten it until you can just about get 2 fingers between the webbing and your leg. Two finger tension means placing the middle and index finger perpendicular to the webbing around the front area of the leg.

The final thing and probably the most important thing is to lock your harness, every harness with a buckle used for adjustment should have at least one slider to lock it. If the harness is not locked and you are involved in a fall the movment of the webbing through the buckle can cause the bar tack to shock load against it. The bar tack is rolled over and lightly stitched it is only there to keep the sliders and buckles on the harness. The energy, in a fall, may exceed the strength of this stitching and it will rip apart allowing the bar tack to unroll and pass through the buckle. The end result is that you will fall through the bottom of the harness.

It doesn’t matter if you are wearing the harness correctly, if it’s damaged it’s useless and will offer you no protection what so ever. Harnesses need to be inspected on a regular basis to establish they are safe to use.

Leading Edge Safety currently have more than 5,000 people every single year go through height safety training to not only gain the certification they need but also the confidence and competence to work safely at height . working at height working at height training height safety training

full body harness

full body harness

safety at height

Author: Drew Beardmore Leading Edge Safety height safety training courses and equipment are specifically designed for anyone whose job requires them to work at height and involves using the necessary safety equipment required to do this. For more information visit www.leadingedgesafety.co.uk

The NEW ‘Force’ Value Harness Safety Range

A new harness safety range has been launched by Leading Edge the Forcefull body harnesses is the result of their new harness product development and is part of a large harness safety product development program designed to offer both premium quality and design harnesses safety - made in the Leading Edge Factory in the United Kingdom - at an affordable price.

It continues the trend of their “4site” range of harness safety by incorporating under-arm side support straps in harnesses safety to bring you the best in support and comfort from a harness supplies company you can trust. This product has been specifically designed to provide price sensitive customers with a real safety solution they can truly rely on when choosing a harness supplies partner.

Drew Beardmore Leading Edge Safety’s managing director said “we are continuing our harnesses safety ongoing battle within the industry for higher quality harness supplies products and services at a more affordable prices.

We have absolute pride in our ability to provide customers with real harnesses safety solutions that have an excellent high quality design and the very best in harness safety considerations.

We are constantly developing new harnesses safety products and services that exceed quality expectations and maintain low prices”. This new harness safety is manufactured in the UK with a one point and a two point model. “Our harness supplies range is getting bigger everyday so take advantage of some of our great new offers and services and see for yourself how you can get your hands on real quality harness safety products at competitive prices on your harness supplies. Visit harness safety

Sneak Peak at ‘The Blade’ - A new safety harness known as “The Blade” is on the verge of being launched so here is an exclusive preview of our newest and hottest harnesses safety product before it even hits the harness supplies shelves.

We’ve been working hard on the development of our brand new harness , named “The Blade”. This premium elasticised harnesses safety design offers new levels of performance and comfort developed over an intensive combined design and 12 months of field testing. We’ve dedicated a large proportion of time and vigorous harnesses safety testing to ensure that the safety of this harness is of highest quality and reliability. ‘The Blade’ comes as standard with 3x ‘Auto’ fitting buckle on the legs and a chest making it easy to set up and providing that little bit extra in harness safety. The harness is designed to eliminate false buckle fitting and really make a difference where it matters most, in the hands of our customers at the front line of harnesses safety.

This new harness safety is the pioneering flagship in our harness supplies range as the ultimate in design, quality and premium harness safety. Manufactured in the UK and developed with intense safety and comfort in mind the harness safety is due to go on sale at very soon and will be available online in our harness supplies section.

These new harness safety products will be realised over the next few weeks in there own harness supplies category sections at harness safetyPosts will be released on harnesses safety our Twitter, Dig and blog feeds. If you want to be kept update by us direct on all our harness safety activities online please subscribe to our RSS, link at full body harness

harness

harness safety

Author: Drew Beardmore Leading Edge Safety height safety training provider and equipment manufacturer courses and equipment are specifically designed for anyone whose job requires them to work at height and involves using the necessary harness and safety equipment required to do this. For more information visit www.leadingedgesafety.co.uk

The Number 1. Mistake Using Fall Arrest Equipment

All too often Leading Edge trainers visit work sites only to find people working at height making the same mistake again and again.

Is it a minor mistake? No! It is one that would be catastrophic if the worker should fall.

Some people think that the number one mistake as a worker operating without safety equipment. Not so!

The number one mistake Leading Edge trainers see is where companies have incurred the cost of providing safety equipment, however through lack of the required knowledge the worker is using it incorrectly. The worker feels safe but doesn’t know that if he falls his protective equipment will fail.

It would be a tragedy, worse it would be unnecessary.

The number 1 mistake is connector misuse by the site worker.

What does misuse mean?

1. Choking - tying off incorrectly

2. Connecting to an unsuitable anchor point

3. Incorrect directional loading

1. Choking

This is where a site worker is supplied a lanyard, often with a small karabiner at the end. The site worker instinctively passes the lanyard around an anchor point e.g. a column or a beam, using the karabiner to choke i.e. tighten the lanyard around the anchor point.

The problem arises should the worker fall, further tightening the choked lanyard and subsequently applying a shock load inappropriately to the karabiner gate most likely causing the barrel of the karabiner to fail.

Karabiners are designed to accommodate tensile (pull) forces along their length and are at their weakest when the load forces are across the minor axis (width) or against the gate.

It is generally accepted that to engineer a connector to withstand the directional loading across the gate of the Karabiner which has been choked during a fall would require a gate strength of 5,000 lbs.

Note that this dynamic loading failure across the gate of the connector applies to all styles of connector i.e. scaffold hook, snap hook, and karabiner.

2. Connecting to an unsuitable anchor point For example, a roof worker may instinctively connect to an handrail believing this to be a suitable fixing point.

Note! All temporary anchorage points must be able to withstand a 12 kN Load. If in doubt the anchor point should be approved by a structural engineer.

Leading Edge level 1 and 2 courses cover identifying suitable anchor points.

3. Scaffold Hooks

Scaffold hooks are often placed around scaffolding resting on a horizontal member, i.e. the gate of the scaffold hook will be forced open subject to the loading that would be imposed by the horizontal member in the event of a fall. This occurs because the downward direction or loading imposed by the cross-member is across the axis of the gate on the scaffold hook and will result in complete hook failure as the hook gate will subsequently bend open, or in worst-case scenario, will explode.

Summary of connector misuse

Often a lack of understanding of equipment performance and its limitations can result in site workers being issued with inappropriate safety equipment which is not suitable for its intended use.

For example the scaffold hooks are often used where a sling would be a much safer option.

To conclude this section on misuse of connectors, which can have devastating and even fatal consequences; it is important for a site management, Foreman and stores personnel to be competent to issue the appropriate equipment for the job.

Site workers, generally through lack of training are not aware of what they can do with the simplest of equipment such as connectors. It is therefore essential that both site workers and those managers responsible for height safety are adequately trained to be competent to carry out their duties safely.

Connector misuse is just one of 25 or more total equipment misuse areas leading edge commonly see on site.

Death to the number 1 mistake - not the site worker

How to choose and use connectors

Years of experience on site has convinced us at Leading Edge that the answer lies in the following:

1. Sufficient strength and load-bearing capabilities

2. Correct size

3. Easy to use

4. Lightweight to carry

5. Commercially acceptable

6. Being properly trained to use connectors and associated equipment

Inevitably this often leads back to specifying slings, be they webbing or cable. These proprietary products have to be PPE items which are CE approved, designed to be an integral component in any fall arrest system and not just a bit of wire which somebody has terminated.

Slings fall into two categories

Wire -cable sling to EN795

Usually a 1m (but can reasonably be any length) galvanised steel cable, inside a hard but flexible resin jacket, making it more durable from abrasion and corrosion, also protecting the anchorage point from cable abrasion. This type of configuration is commonly used in conjunction with inertia reels.

Webbing slings to EN795

This is a product which is lightweight and easy to carry around, which adds to its attraction and is relatively inexpensive. It is often used when anchoring to a scaffold pole.

Correct use of scaffold hooks and karabiners

Scaffold Hook

It may be the case that it is easier to tie off with a scaffold hook than a sling and standard karabiner, but a scaffold hook is designed to be suspended off horizontal Anchorage e.g. of a horizontal scaffold tube, ensuring correct directional loading (vertical downward load). Karabiners

As mentioned earlier karabiners are weakest when they are loaded across or against their gate.

This means that it is vitally important that the karabiner is always loaded along its length and never across its width, which would pull against its gate or caused the karabiner to take a force against the gate. So please take care

fall arrest

fall arrest equipment

height safety

Author: Drew Beardmore Leading Edge Safety height safety training courses and equipment are specifically designed for anyone whose job requires them to work at height and involves using the necessary safety equipment required to do this. For more information visit www.leadingedgesafety.co.uk

Working at height - After the fall

After the fall - Suspension Trauma / orthostatic intolerance - the need for a plan to rescue

Leading Edge stresses the importance of thorough planning for rescue

Planning for rescue and emergencies when employees work at height is a legal and moral responsibility for all employers.

Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 obliges employers to ensure all work at height is properly planned, and Regulation 4(2) notes that “planning of work includes planning for emergencies and rescue”.

Often we think of rescue as simply a matter of dialling 999, but calling the local fire brigade does not add up to an effective rescue plan. Response times can be too long and not all brigades have the capability to rescue from height.

Even in the most safety conscious employers’ workplaces accidents happen, so a rescue plan is an essential component of working at height and should be managed via a working at height method statement and risk assessment, and be ingrained through training and practice.

The absence of any form of post-fall rescue plan - relying on employees to improvise the rescue of a colleague - not only puts the victim at risk, but also puts rescuers in harm’s way. Unplanned attempts at rescue often result in secondary and tertiary injuries or deaths.

In intense, stressful and life threatening situations many individuals will suffer an onset of panic after the initial adrenaline rush. A panicked state damages the thought processes and the affected person will be unable to make logical or considered decisions. This puts both the casualty and the rescuer at risk as the panic can interfere with the rescue operation.

In fact, the number of people who are killed or injured as a result of trying to help a colleague or friend who has fallen from height almost exceeds the number of original casualties. This is why adequate operative training is essential not only for those who have fallen from height but also for the operatives attempting the rescue.

Time is short

The reason planned rescue by trained people is so important is that the danger is far from over when the fall arrest equipment does its job. Anyone hanging in a harness is at risk of suspension trauma; as the blood drains from the top half of their body, depriving the brain of oxygen. The critical thing is to get them to the ground as quickly as possible - any more than 10 minutes in suspension and the risk of irreparable damage increases rapidly.

The rescue plan must provide for self-rescue by employees who remain conscious after a fall, where their equipment allows them to get to safety. Workers must be trained and practised in self rescue.

But even where a fallen worker appears to be able to help themselves, the plan must require colleagues to act as though they are incapable, since the situation might change and time is at a premium.

The plan must give clear direction for anyone who witnesses a fall to know who on site at the time is responsible for rescue and to alert them immediately, plus the emergency services where available. This means ensuring every worker has emergency phone numbers to hand and knows the site location to direct third parties.

The plan must set out the hierarchy of rescue options available on site for getting employees to safety - from dedicated rescue equipment, such as additional harnesses, controlled descent devices, winches and hauling devices, to retrieve the fallen worker, plus locations of first aid equipment and any rescue-specific items.

Though speed is of the essence, the plan must make co-workers responsibilities clear and emphasise the importance of not endangering themselves during the rescue.

Death by Rescue

It used to be thought (following industry research) that as the casualty is returned to the level, the fallen worker must not be laid flat because of the risk of stale blood from the legs rushing back through the body poisoning their major organs and causing potentially fatal toxic shock. Operatives were encouraged to put the casualty into a sitting “W” position with their legs bent, unless they are suspected of having a spinal injury.

The HSE following further research has clarified their guidance on the treatment of a casualty following a fall and having been suspended by a harness and may have developed suspension trauma.

The HSE recommendation now is:

“Not to place casualty in the “W” position, but to place the casualty in a horizontal position.”

Other Considerations

Other considerations for a plan include how to ensure any wreckage/equipment is set aside to help later investigation, allowing for unusual structural features that might complicate a rescue and ensuring materials are provided in translation where large numbers of migrant workers are on site.

However well thought out, a rescue plan (like a risk assessment) is useless if it is filed away and forgotten. You need to ensure that everyone who could be involved in a rescue: managers; supervisors; and workers are fully trained in the types of situation that might call for a rescue, what their roles are and how to use the equipment you provide. Rescue operations are carried out under extreme pressure, whatever training your employees have had or are yet to have, will determine how they react.

The training should be kept topped up with regular practice sessions or drills, keeping employees on their toes but also checking that they can act inside the necessary ten-minute window. Just as the plan needs updating with any change of circumstances, personnel or equipment, so does the training.

inertia reels fall arrest blocks

fall arrest

Falls from height are one of the leading causes of death and serious injury in the work place, with a high personal cost to families and the subsequent financial cost to businesses. With more than 50 years of experience in technical height safety training and products, we have determined not only to provide the best fall protection height safety products and training possible, but to also continuously develop new ideas, further our technological expertise, understand and implement new techniques and to repeatedly set higher standards of safe working at height.

Guidance on use, maintenance and inspection
of fall protection equipment

This article is only intended as general guidance, for specific guidance contact individual manufacturers of the fall protection equipment you are using. The legal requirements are covered in detail within the Working at height Regulations 2005, in addition there are requirements laid out in EN 365:2004 and BS 8437:05.

Obsolescence or lifespan of “soft materials” rope, webbing, harnesses, dyneema, etc that remains un-used at the place of manufacture is 5 years, once the product is purchased it then has a “working life” of 5 years. The total life is 10 years.

However this does not take into account the environment the harness has been stored or the conditions under which it is used, once it has left the manufacturer.

We recommend that soft materials used for fall protection are used for 5 years from the date of purchase; if this cannot be ascertained then it should be assumed the products went into service on the date of manufacture. This date is printed on the certificate of conformity attached to the product; if this is missing or is illegible then the product should be removed from service and permanently and irretrievably destroyed.

Once a product has reached the 5 year limit it should be withdrawn from service whether it has been rejected for other reasons or not.

All fall protection products should be accompanied with an inspection regime, the regime should include:

· The equipment to be inspected, including a unique identification number. · The frequency and type of inspection, pre-use checks, detailed and interim inspection. · Designated competent person to carry out the inspections · Action on finding defects · Means of recording the inspections · List of trained users · Monitor and review to verify the inspections are carried out accordingly.

A competent person is one who is knowledgeable of the current inspection requirements, recommendations and instructions issued by the manufacture.

Any person who attends a Leading Edge working at height course, Level 1 or 2 will be deemed competent to inspect fall protection equipment at the level to which they are trained, i.e. a Level 1 operative will be able to undertake daily inspections of the harness they are wearing and the safety equipment they will be using. A Level 2 trained person will be deemed more competent and therefore able to undertake the pre-use checks, interim inspections and thorough examinations.

These inspection logs should always be available with the product and kept until the “work is complete,” at the site where the fall protection is being used, thereafter at an office for “3months.”

Once a product has been used to arrest a fall it should never be re-used. It should be withdrawn from service and destroyed. We recommend that the product is photographed before, during and after this process. The pictures should be kept on a password protected file and the certificate of conformity removed form the product at kept in a secure place. This is to assist in any subsequent legal action.

If there is no evidence of an inspection within the last 6months and or identification numbers are not present the fall protection equipment should be withdrawn from service and passed to the manufacturer for a detailed inspection to decide on further action.

Customers of leading edge who have bought Leading Edge fall protection products and received our training are eligible for our free service pack which includes:

Formal Equipment Inspection.

We will inspect and recertify any Leading Edge equipment at your location by arrangement. We can provide the minimum of disruption while maintaining top quality safety standards with a thorough equipment check. All equipment that passes our formal inspection and is suitable for its allocated purpose will receive official inspection tagging detailing the equipment has been recertified by Leading Edge.

Formal inspections need to be carried out on all equipment every six months. We include official documentation of the inspected items including serial numbers for your site contact along with a further list of all equipment that did not pass the inspection and is not suitable for use. A copy of these lists will then be sent to the elected head office contact for their records, and of course this service is free to all our customers

fall protection inertia reels

working at height

Fall arrest equipment

Author: Drew Beardmore Leading Edge Safety Fall protection equipment and training courses are specifically designed for anyone whose job requires them to work at height and involves using the necessary fall protection safety equipment required to do this. For more information visit www.leadingedgesafety.co.uk

New Range of Height Safety Lanyards

Leading Edge rope shock absorbing lanyards are uniquely developed to be tough enough and optimised for high impact edge abrasion, found today in harsh, abrasive environments.

Drew Beardmore Leading Edge managing director said “we are continuing our lanyard ongoing battle within the industry for higher quality lanyards products at a more affordable prices.

excellent high quality materials and design, insuring the very best in safety considerations.

We are constantly developing new lanyards, height safety products and services that exceed expectations and maintain low prices. Our lanyard range is getting bigger everyday so take advantage of some of our great new lanyard offers and see for yourself how you can get your hands on real quality safety lanyards at competitive prices.

with harsh environments is the multibraid rope used. Its fibrous inner core provides the strength and flexibility whilst maintaining it lightweight and flexible characteristic. A tight woven outer jacket protects the inner core from abrasion and the ingress of dirt, creating a tough, lightweight lanyard which remains supple for freedom of movement.

through material behaviour and design, creating a shock absorber that has both smoother impact dissipation, greatly reducing the overall impact of forces, making the arrest process less aggressive.

The new design also allows for it to be much smaller pack, making it lighter and nicer to carry around when attach to the wearers harness. The new design is up to 50% small than classic designs.

All leading lanyards are supplied with a maillon connector at the harness anchorage end. We do this to stop the potential hazard of connector failure at this point in the system.

Our in-house testing has proven to us that when a person falls the impact normally happens at this point (Dee ring to connector area) by using a normal traditional karabiner, the wearer is exposed to the karabiner failing through minor axis loading i.e. the connector is loading incorrectly across the weakest point during impact on the edge. By using a maillon this is significantly reduced, as the integral design is not subject to the same minor axis failure issues, making it ideal as a connector used in this application of connecting lanyard to harness.

For more information on this subject, Drew Beardmore MD of Leading Edge has published a technical guidance booklet (currently 4th revision) on this subject and is available free from Leading Edge Safety.

These new lanyard products will be available online over the next few weeks in there own section category at http://www.leadingedgesafety.co.uk/lanyard.php Posts of new product willl be released on our Twitter, Dig and blog feeds.

height safety lanyards

fall protection

Lanyards

Drew Beardmore -Leading Edge Safety Falls from height are one of the leading causes of death and serious injury in the work place, with a high personal cost to families and the subsequent financial cost to businesses. With more than 50 years of experience in technical height safety training and products, we have determined not only to provide the best fall protection and height safety products and training possible, but to also continuously develop new ideas, further our technological expertise, understand and implement new techniques and to repeatedly set higher standards of safe working at height.

Height Safety Instructor

We require a highly professional dynamic person to join our team as a ‘Height Safety Instructor’ training our clients at locations throughout the UK and overseas.

You will be intelligent and quick thinking, as the right person will have confidence in their ability to both think and talk on their feet with integrity and passion, whilst being comfortable with working at height.

Ideally your background has meant you have gone through some form of instructional techniques and presention training, leading to you becoming a confident, articulate, a well spoken presenter, as such you enjoy being in front of groups making presontations.

Height safety experience is not critical, as you will go through our full in-house training program lasting 12 weeks. After successfully completing this process and passing the formal assessment, meaning you have achieved our grade as a instructor, you are released as a full chargeable instructor delivering basic training, over the next 12 months through ongoing continual development hopefully leading to achieving a senior instructor status.

We pride ourselves on having and making the very best instructors in the industry, as our courses are of the highest level, resulting 2 out of 7 instructors going through our 12 week process don’t make it and fail leaving the program.

So it is imperative you are honest about your competence and are excited about the challenge in becoming a Leading Edge instructor, recognised as the best of the very best in the industry.

You need to be located in Hampshire, as the majority of our training is in around Greater London and the south, with our office being located in Gosport, Hampshire.

Starting salary - £30,000 (During your 12wk training period)
Full Instructor salary - £35,000 (After successful passing training)

Senior instructor salary -£ TBA (After successful 1st year appraisal and status)

Status - Full time (Permanent) Monday to Friday
Holidays - 24 days annually plus Bank Holidays and Christmas factory shutdown
Package - Company vehicle, laptop, mobile, mobile broadband, clothing etc
Start date - Immediately

To apply please email your CV’s to: shirley@leadingedgesafety.co.uk

height safety

height safety

height safety

Falls from height are one of the leading causes of death and serious injury in the work place, with a high personal cost to families and the subsequent financial cost to businesses. With more than 50 years of experience in technical height safety training and products, we have determined not only to provide the bestleadingedgesafety.co.uk” >fall protection and height safety training possible, but to also continuously develop new ideas, further our technological expertise, understand and implement new techniques and to repeatedly set higher standards of safe working at height.