Fred has been assigned to carry out work in an elevated work location. Because Fred’s employer is conscientious about safety, he has been equipped and trained to use a fall-arrest harness with a 2m shock-absorbing lanyard.
After fastening his lanyard to a secure anchorage, Fred begins his tasks. Suddenly, a pigeon, disturbed by Fred’s work activities, flies out of a small area and startles him. He steps back suddenly and falls from the platform where he is working.
The shock absorber on his lanyard extends to reduce the impact forces on his body, although it is still a hard fall, and Fred is left dangling in an area where he can’t reach any of the structure to be able to perform self-rescue. All he can do is yell for help and wait while the harness binds painfully around his thighs.
The construction company that employs Fred does not have a trained rescue team. The management had previously decided that the cost of equipping, training and maintaining an in-house team was prohibitive and unnecessary since they had a good safety record in the workplace.
Other operatives hear Fred’s cries for help and decide to call 999 for assistance from the local fire brigade. The fire brigade has a big red shiny rescue tender, but they are only trained and equipped for vehicle crash extrication, not at-height rescue.
The fire brigade responds and arrives at the site within 10 minutes of the call to 999. They quickly establish verbal contact with Fred to assess his condition. Fred tells the firefighters that he is not hurt but he can’t get back to safety without help.
The firefighters determine that Fred is beyond the reach of the ladders they carry on their vehicle, he cannot be reached by crane or MEWPs and they decide that a rope rescue will be necessary. They call for aid from a nearby fire brigade with rope rescue capabilities but it will be a further 25 minute delay before they arrive.
It has been 20 minutes since Fred has fallen and been saved by his fall-arrest system. Suddenly, Fred stops communicating with the firefighters and hangs limply in his harness. The second fire brigade rescue team is still 20 minutes away.
When the second brigade rescue team arrives, they quickly set up a raising system to be able to release Fred’s lanyard from its anchor point and then lower him to the ground.
Fred has no vital signs and CPR is started during the trip to the hospital. Unfortunately, the hospital personnel are unable to restore Fred’s heartbeat and he is pronounced dead on arrival.
It’s up to you – Don’t leave a fallen operatives life hanging in the balance.
If you are responsible for operatives operating at height you have both a legal and a moral obligation to put into effect the recommendations of this guidance document.
If you’re not going to give your employees the skills to perform rescue, then you might as well not even put them in the harness at all.
These are harsh words, but they are true, and are intended to make the reader of this guidance think seriously about the risk and exposure to danger their operatives face if they are working at height and there exists the possibility of falling.
How quickly can they be rescued? And can it be done without putting the lives of others at risk?
Being aware of the demands for fast, simple and effective rescue,when working at height Leading Edge Safety have developed a range of products and courses specifically designed for rescue at height in the construction industry, allowing typical site operatives to rescue conscious and unconscious casualties in under five minutes. For more information and guidance on working at height and rescue from height visitwww.leadingedgesafety.co.uk
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