Working Safely at Height: Taking the UK Market by Storm
September 2017, Roofing Today magazine Issue 72
Roofing contractors are well aware of the importance of workplace health and safety, particularly the importance of managing risk related to falls. Safety when working at height is paramount. While there are a number of strategies and best practice guidelines to help mitigate risk to workers who operate at height, the hierarchy of controls teaches us that the best possible strategy when trying to manage a risk, and the approach we should try first, is to eliminate that risk altogether.
Currently, accidents affecting people who work at height in the UK is a serious issue. In 2015/2016 there were 66,000 self-reported non-fatal workplace injuries in the UK construction sector, with 20% caused by falls from height. That’s 13,200 injuries in one year alone. In 2016/2017 there were 25 people in the UK who died falling from height. The annual average across 2012 to 2017 of deaths caused by these types of incidents is 40 per year, making falls from height the main source of fatal workplace accidents in the UK.
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