Residents in the Tsuen Wan district of Hong Kong were
shocked to find a work man working on the 10th floor of a high rise
industrial building wearing no safety equipment.
The man, who had been hired to dismantle a glass window so
they could install a new air conditioning unit, was seen balancing on a narrow
ledge trying to get back into the building through a small window. Witnesses
were so afraid of the man’s safety – they called the emergency services to
prevent an accident.
The worker tried to jump through the window to exit the danger
that he was in, however his first attempt failed, leaving the scared onlookers
holding their breath. Luckily on the second attempt he managed to enter the
building successfully.
Luckily this worker was OK and didn't slip, trip or fall. But
it could have so easily been a completely different story. After all, all it
takes is one misplaced step, a step on a loose piece of concrete, a gust of
wind and an accident can tragically happen.
In fact, accidents from working at height are the single
biggest cause of workplace fatalities and life changing injuries. Yet we see time and time again, people who
seemingly have no regard for their own, (or other peoples) safety and are
willing to put their lives (and other people’s lives) at risk to will carry out
work. There is no clear reason as to why people recklessly put their lives into
danger in this manner; it could be that they fear that if they refuse to do the
job they won’t have any work in the morning?The one thing we know is that no job is worth risking your life for.
It is your employer’s job to ensure that any work at height
has been properly planned, is carried out by people who are properly trained to
work at height, and that the correct safety equipment is provided. If you are
not presented with the right equipment to carry out a job, you are well within
your right to refuse to do the job until you either have either purchased the
equipment yourself, or your employer provides you with the correct protective
equipment.
The working at height regulations 2005 state that to stay
safe you should only carry out work at height if it completely necessary to do
so, and even then work should only commence if your workers have access to the right
protective equipment.
Not only is it important that you are using the correct
safety equipment, it is important that your safety equipment is in good
condition. This means that your equipment has no signs of wear or tear, not fraying
and not wearing thin. If, when checking your equipment before undergoing the
work, you see that there are signs of
damage – stop work immediately and replace the damaged item.
Here at SafetyLiftinGear we supply a huge range of safety
harnesses, from your basic height safety harness through to more specialist
insulated harnesses. If are looking for a specialist safety harness and cannot locate it on our website, please contact our expert customer service team by calling 0808 123 6969 or email sales@safetyliftingear.com
0117 9381 600
