Walkovers are an important way to protect maintenance workers who need access to elevated positions – particularly where there are known weak parts of the roof, or trip hazards on its surface – but could also help to tackle one of the major causes of serious injuries and fatalities in the construction sector. Every year, […]
New Year’s resolutions can be professional as well as personal, and one of the best commitments you can make to yourself and your employees is to put in place safer work at height precautions in 2017. Edge protection comes in many forms, from permanent guardrails to temporary roof rails and man anchors that tether individuals […]
An incident recently reported by the HSE shows the importance of using proper walkovers when accessing fragile roofs, after two individuals were caught up in a severe fall when using homemade crawling boards instead. The event itself took place on July 30th 2014, and the investigation has just concluded, with the engineering firm that employed […]
In previous articles we have looked at the importance of safe roof access in the autumn and winter months, with safety ladders to prevent injury in the event that your foot slips on a rung in wet conditions. Roof edge protection enhances this by preventing falls from the sides of a building, but while on […]
Walkovers can act as demarcation systems to indicate the safe route over a roof – particularly one where certain areas of the roof surface are especially fragile. According to the HSE following a recent prosecution, falls through roofs – either through skylights or through fragile materials like asbestos cement – account for more fatalities than […]
Falling through a fragile roof can be a catastrophic incident for workers with any level of experience, but walkovers may be particularly useful in protecting newcomers who are less familiar with a particular site. Walkovers don’t just safely span weaker parts of a roof; they clearly demarcate the route to be taken, avoiding any skylights […]
An employee installing solar panels on a barn in Newton Stewart near Stranraer stepped backwards on to a roof light and fell 3.6m to the ground below – another reminder that if some or all of a roof is weakened for any reason, walkovers can help to prevent those accessing the roof from falling through […]
An incident in which a man fell through an abattoir roof serves as a reminder of the value of safety ladders for safe access to roofs, and of walkovers to prevent people from falling through their more fragile sections. In this instance, the HSE reports that the married father of two was given a ladder […]
Walkovers can help ensure safety when two of the biggest construction health risks are combined – working at height and asbestos. Both have been high on the HSE hit list for many years, as falls from height are a major cause of injury and fatality, while asbestos exposure can have long-term health consequences. Now small […]
Guardrails help to prevent falls from roof edges, while walkovers can provide a safe access route on fragile roofs – and while both reduce the risk of an injury, the most important purpose they serve has got to be preventing the death of a worker. In two cases reported in recent days by the HSE, […]