Safety Essentials For Working At Height

Safety Essentials For Working At Height

Sean C Fourie

Published by Sean C Fourie at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Sean C Fourie

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Fall Hazard Definitions

Chapter 2: Why Accidents At Height Happen.

Chapter 3: Factors And Situations That Could Cause A Fall

Chapter 4: Definitions Of Working At Height

Chapter 5: Requirements For Work At Height

Charter 6: Fall Protection

Chapter 7: Fall Protection Planning

Chapter 8: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Chapter 9: Controlling The Main Work At Height Killers

Chapter 10: Recommended Interlinked Procedure Development

Chapter 11: Final Note

About the author

Introduction

This book will discuss issues that are related to working in elevated positions to bring awareness to the individual who has limited or no knowledge on the subject. The basics include how to define work at height, the working conditions that prompt use of fall protection and the options that are available to protect individuals. Further the book will discuss requirements for fall protection.

This book will assists in developing the basic skills required in fall hazard recognition & control thus it will enable individuals to utilize fall hazard analysis techniques and document a risk assessment. This will assists the individual to be able to do proper planning, select the correct protective measures.

The different fall protection systems will be discussed in respect to function, hazards associated with fall protection and some examples of fall protection systems will be provided. The importance and the ability of identifying and selecting suitable anchor points when utilizing fall protection will conclude during the book.

General information is mentioned to prepare and implement a fall protection program to manage the safety of all personnel and the Personal Protective Equipment involved with activities.

This book will help to improve Safety, Morale, Productivity and Individual well-being

Chapter 1 - Fall Hazard Definitions

HSE:

Health Safety & Environmental

PPE:

Personal Protective Equipment

QUALIFIED PERSON:

A person approved or assigned by the employer to perform a specific type of duty or duties or to be at a specific location or locations at the jobsite holding a specific Qualification gained through formal education.

COMPETENT PERSON:

A person, who is qualified, has at least 3 years related experience and capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to individuals, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them.

SUSPENSION TRAUMA:

A medical condition that occurs when an individual is in a suspended state. When blood circulation is cut off by the induced pressure of an individual hanging in a full body harness usually occurs in upper leg area where the pressure is greatest.

FALL PREVENTION:

Refers to equipment or engineering controls for the prevention of a fall through the use of physical restraints or barriers such as: Restraint lanyards, Work positioning belts, Hand rails, Guard rails, Toe boards, Floor covers, Ladder cages and so forth.

FALL PROTECTION:

The prevention of injury through the use of planned, active protective systems such as: Roof Systems, Rescue Systems, Retrieval Systems, Restraint Systems, Fall Arrest Systems, Suspension Systems, Ladder Safety Systems

FALL ARRESTER:

Equipment designed to allow a person to fall in a controlled safe manner. A fall arrester usually employs the principle of internal locking, cantilever locking, or both. A Rope Grab is an example of a fall arrester.

FREEFALL DISTANCE:

The vertical displacement of the fall arrest attachment point on the individual's full body harness between onset of the fall and just before the system begins to apply force to arrest the fall.

This distance excludes deceleration distance, and lifeline/lanyard elongation, but includes any deceleration device slide distance or self-retracting lifeline/lanyard extension before they operate and fall arrest forces occur.

ANCHORAGE:

Any secure point to attach lifelines, lanyards or deceleration devices.

TIE OFF:

When an individual anchors themself to a safe anchor point via fall protection equipment such as fall arrest lanyard, restriction lanyards and so forth.

100% TIE OFF:

When fall arrest lanyards are used they are double lanyards this means that at least 1 lanyard is anchored to a safe anchor point at all times.

BODY BELT (SAFETY BELT):

A strap that is for securing around the waist and for attaching to a lanyard, lifeline, or deceleration device.

FULL BODY HARNESS:

Straps which encapsulate and secured around the individual in a manner that will distribute the fall arrest forces over at least the thighs, pelvis, waist, chest and shoulders with provision for attaching it to other components of a personal fall arrest system.

BUCKLE:

A device for holding the body belt or full body harness closed around the individual's body.

CONNECTOR:

A device which is used to connect parts of the personal fall protection system and positioning device systems together. It may be an independent component of the system, such as a carabineer, or it may be an integral component of part of the system (such as a buckle or D-ring sewn into a body belt or body harness, or a snap-hook spliced or sewn to a lanyard or self-retracting lanyard).

CONTROLLED ACCESS ZONE (CAZ):

An area in which certain work (e.g., grating modification) may take place without the use of guardrail systems, personal fall arrest systems, or safety net systems and access to the zone is controlled.

EXCLUSION ZONE:

The barricaded area beneath overhead work being carried out that is an area where there is the risk of falling objects.

HAZARDOUS EQUIPMENT:

Equipment (such as galvanizing tanks, degreasing units, machinery, electrical equipment, and other units) which, as a result of form or function, may be hazardous to individuals who fall onto or into such equipment.

DECELERATION DEVICE:

Any mechanism, such as a rope grab, fall arrest lanyard, specially-woven lanyard, tearing or deforming lanyards, automatic self-retracting lifelines/lanyards, etc., which serves to dissipate a substantial amount of energy during a fall arrest, or otherwise limit the energy imposed on an individual during fall arrest.

LANYARD:

A flexible line of rope, wire rope, or strap which has a connector at each end for connecting the full body harness to a deceleration device, lifeline, or anchorage.

SELF-RETRACTING LANYARD, Fall Arrest Block, inertia reel, Yo-Yo:

A deceleration device which contains a drum wound line which may be slowly extracted from, or retracted onto, the drum under slight tension during normal individual movement, and which, after onset of a fall, automatically locks the drum and arrests the fall.

PERSONAL FALL ARREST SYSTEM (PFAS):

A system used to arrest an individual’s in a fall from a working level. It consists of an anchorage, connectors, full body harness and may include a lanyard, deceleration device, lifeline, or suitable combinations of these.

ACCELERATION:

An airborne body will accelerate at 10 meters/second during a free fall. If the free fall distance can be reduced the injury can be reduced.

FREEFALL DISTANCE:

The distance the individual falls to the moment the system begins to apply force to arrest the fall.

DECELERATION DISTANCE:

The additional vertical distance a falling individual travels, excluding lifeline elongation and free fall distance, before stopping, from the point at which the