How To Use Access Equipment Safely
- Posted by:
- Admin
- Tags:
- Access Equipment, Safely, height safely
- Posted date:
- 25-08-2021
Are you planning on using access equipment for a specific job? Find out how to use access equipment safely. This article looks at the problems of using access equipment and how to work at height safely.
The problems of using access equipment.
The greatest safety risk brought with the use of access equipment is a fall while performing work at height. Across the vast majority of workplace environments, falls are the leading cause of fatality and severe injury. Of these falls, most are due to some mistake made regarding the use or maintenance of access equipment like mobile ladders.
There are many points of failure that often lead to injury or death when performing work at height. These failures can be caused by either a managerial failure, equipment failure, or usage failure.
Injury due to poor management occurs when a manager fails to provide sufficiently safe work, instruction, and equipment systems to their team. If a construction site manager, for example, procures too little or inadequate access equipment, then that is a failure on their part that may lead to injury or death.
An equipment failure is caused by poor maintenance or shoddy construction that fails to meet safe use regulations.
Access equipment itself either breaking during use or behaving unexpectedly in these conditions is unfortunately common in the industry.
It goes without saying that if a ladder breaks under a normal amount of weight, then the user is likely going to fall and injure themselves through no fault of their own.
A usage failure can be due to a number of factors such as; lack of experience, guidance or training, arrogance and reckless behaviour, equipment misuse, and more.
Whether the user is using the work platforms or equipment improperly on purpose or not, the result is the same. Thus the importance of workplace health and safety.
Working at height safely
The safest and most sure fire technique for performing work at height with a 100% success rate is to avoid it entirely. If avoiding it is not possible, then here are some guidelines to follow to minimize the risk of falling as much as possible.
The first step is to perform a proper and effective risk assessment. This should aim to answer key questions such as is working from height avoidable? If not, then can you take steps to prevent a fall from occurring? If a fall is likely, is it possible to minimize the effects a fall would have?
If your risk assessment can adequately resolve all of these questions, then you will be in a much better position to perform safe work at height.
so with a practical assessment of the risks, the work involves here are some examples of equipment and workarounds commonly used to circumvent or reduce the risk of working from height:
extendable tools
taking advantage of existing and safe construction as work platforms
scaffolding
use a scissor lift
use safety nets and other soft landing equipment if the work has a high likelihood of the worker falling
ladders
Tips for Using Access Equipment safely:
Whenever you are about to use a piece of equipment, you should always check it to ensure you aren't about to step on something or use any kit that is on the verge of collapse. Just take a minute to make a quick inspection of the equipment you are using to save yourself from a lot of pain later.
You might scoff at the idea of being trained in how o safely use a 4ft step ladder, but the reality is a human being can die from even shorter falls, and it only needs to happen once. We can't stress enough how important it is that you make sure you are trained by a specialist in whatever equipment you are going to need to perform your job.
A tool is only safe and effective at the task it was designed for. To use a piece of equipment outside of its intended purpose is therefore inviting disaster. With this in mind, make sure whatever equipment you need is suited for the task at hand, as will likely be described in the manual that comes with it. If the manufacturer of that 10ft step ladder says it's not suitable for windy or wet conditions, then it's probably a good idea to listen to them for your own health and that of the equipment.
Multitasking is a myth. The human brain is not capable of performing 2 separate conscious actions simultaneously, and if you attempt to do so while working at a great height or not, then you may be in for a world of hurt. This is what things like toolbelts were made for. So that when you are done using one tool, you can put it away before using another one rather than holding both at the same time.
Fixing the tiles of a roof on a hot summer's day can be quite pleasant, all things considered. However, doing the same thing in the middle of a snowy winter is an entirely different beast. Always make sure you take into account the weather and environmental conditions of where you work, and if you can't avoid working in hazardous conditions, then prepare for them as thoroughly as possible.
When working at height, the last thing you want is for the working platform holding your access equipment to fall through. So be mindful about the surface you stand on, and so long as it's not solid earth, find out what sort of load it can bear to avoid an accidental collapse.
We hope you got some useful information about how to use access equipment safely. If you require access equipment hire in Daventry and Northampton contact our specialists today.
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