FOCUS HEALTH & SAFETY
SPEED TEST
Facilities Managers are dealing
with myriad pressures in their
roles - not least the pressure to do
more, with less. The di iculty arises
however when cost-cutting becomes
a by-word for poor standards. When
it comes to safety any slippage in
standards presents a real risk that
real victims may su er life-changing
injuries or even death.
Unfortunately, many professionals
working in the Working at Height
industry have noted a worrying trend
that is bringing this very dilemma to
the fore; ‘drive-by’ compliance testing
of essential Work at Height equipment
and PPE. That is, the independent
testing of essential safety equipment
being completed in eye-watering
record time...
Before we get into what that means
in practice, let’s step back and remind
ourselves why Work at Height is still
such a prominent issue for facilities
professionals.
In July the HSE published its annual
workplace fatality figures showing
that deaths due to falls from height
have risen 11 per cent in the last five
years, 14 per cent from last year. In
2018/19, 40 fatal injuries to workers
were due to falls from a height.
Falls from height continue to be the
biggest workplace killer. What these
figures mean is 40 people dead, 40
families grieving and 40 organisations
dealing with the potentially
devastating personal and professional
consequences of losing a colleague in
circumstances that were more than
likely, preventable.
Of course, there is legislation in
place to prevent such incidents when
Working at Height, the basics of which
cover:
FALL PROTECTION SYSTEMS
Current Health and Safety legislations
dictate that Fall Protection systems
should be in place when employees or
contractors carry out work at height
(two metres or higher).
46 NOVEMBER 2019
SAFE EQUIPMENT
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
is a vital part of protecting against
the risks posed whilst Working at
Height. This includes items such
as safety harnesses, lanyards and
karabiners – legally required when
using some Personal Fall Protection
Systems, (EN365 – Personal Protective
Equipment against falls from height).
Let’s not forget, as an employer it is
your duty to ensure that employees
are fully trained when it comes to
selecting the correct PPE for the job,
(Health and Safety at Work Act and
Work At Height Regulations).
INSPECTION, TESTING AND
COMPLIANCE
The importance of regular assessment
and testing of equipment should
never be underestimated. It can be
easy to be enthusiastic about new
equipment and there may be initial
well-meaning intentions to ensure it is
kept in pristine condition. Of course,
reality then takes over and equipment
can be misused, pushed to its limits or
just forgotten about.
PUWER (Provision and Use of Work
Equipment Regulations 1998) state
that regular maintenance and testing
of Work at Height equipment and PPE
is required to remain compliant.
If you have not followed PUWER
regulations the Health & Safety
Executive can issue an improvement
or prohibition notice. Failure to
visibility show tagged and compliant
systems could not only invalidate
your insurance but could also lead
to prosecution, should an employee,
contractor or trespasser su er injury.
The frequency of testing of Work at
Height equipment is not stipulated by
the regulations, instead leaving it to
the employer’s discretion. However,
in deciding the regularity of testing
it’s essential to assess the level of
risk to a user’s health and safety from
malfunction or failure. Considering
that falls from height are Britain’s
biggest workplace killer, the risk of
using faulty equipment when Working
at Height is considerable.
DRIVE-BY TESTING’S FALSE
ECONOMY
PUWER stipulates that testing of
equipment must be performed by a
‘competent person’. For some less
complex equipment you may have
the necessary experience in-house
to perform the required checks - for
example, simple visual examination
of a hand tool. However, when it
comes to specialist equipment such
as Building Maintenance Units and
Abseil Rails, it’s good practice to hire
a third party to carry out a specialised
inspection. Not only does this ensure
you’ve met the ‘competent person’
threshold but it provides evidence of
objectivity and validity if there is ever
a related incident.
Unfortunately, when it comes to
third-party testing providers, not
all show the same level of care and
responsibility. Over the last year,
the Work at Height industry has
seen an upsurge in suppliers testing
Fall Protection and Façade Access
equipment at unrealistic speeds.
Quite simply, they are claiming to
have carried out fully compliant
testing in completely unachievable
timeframes.
For example, we were recently made
aware that a testing provider was
claiming to have completed tests on
95 Abseil Points and nine Safety Lines
in just 1 hour and 20 minutes. That
equates to approximately 45 seconds
per point or line.
The provider claimed that all 95
Abseil Points were tested to BS
7883:2005 and BS EN 795, each
with an individual load reading.
Realistically, it is completely infeasible
to expect a full and thorough test of
this scale to be completed in anything
less than a day.
Of course, in claiming to have
completed the testing in such a short
timescale meant that this supplier
provided the client with an incredibly
cheap service. However, it’s clear that
cheap testing doesn’t equate to good
value.
When falls from height kill more
workers than any other workplace
accident, this drive-by practice is
exposing clients and their personnel
who work at height to massive risk.
While facilities clients may take
comfort in the knowledge that they
have a certificate of conformity, it’s
not worth the paper it’s written on.
In the event of an incident, the
compliance testing provider and
client’s actions in accepting this level
of inspection would and should be
brought into question. In short, fast
and cheap testing is neither safe,
ethical or value for money for facilities
professionals. Scrimping on testing
of equipment might provide very
short-term relief on a bottom line but
will cost organisations dearly in the
long run.
Victims of ‘drive-by’ testing may be paying a heavy price when
Working at Height warns Ken Diable Managing Director at
Heightsafe Systems Ltd