FAQ: Working Safely at Heights in Queensland
Working Safely at Heights: Some facts about Height Safety
We took this photo in the yard recently and felt it had a ‘Lunch atop a Skyscraper‘ vibe to it, the famous photo taken in 1932 of workers enjoying lunch upon an iron girder 260 metres above ground during construction of the RCA building in New York City.
Height safety and construction safety standards in general have moved on from then of course around the developed world.
Any rigger erecting and dismantling tower cranes though can attest to the very real danger that still exists in this line of work, despite these standards and even the fall arrest systems designed to protect them.
Of course our riggers here are only a few metres up and in the controlled environment of our yard, but the action shot does depict the pseudo construction site environment we’ve tried to create, with plenty of plant and construction activity working together in close proximity.
But sometimes that’s exactly where the danger can lie, in complacency about taking risks working at minimal height with so many fall-from-height incidents occurring from ladders.
And on a construction site, one must always be aware and, continually assess hazards, as and when they arise, implement control measures to manage them as outlined in all the courses we offer and recorded in SWMS.
So perhaps as you read this you might be thinking about your own safety on site, or of those of your workers.
Are you/they compliant but ultimately safe as possible to themselves and others?
Have you/they had sufficient training at height?
Have the highest possible measures from the five levels in the hierarchy of controls relating to work at height been implemented on site?
According to Worksafe Australia, in 2022 9% of workplace fatalities were due to falls-from-height.
Worksafe Victoria reported over a third of the 1352 falls-from-height claims in 2023 were from the construction sector.
Most of these were from falling off ladders, but also stairs and stairways, buildings and structures, scaffolding, openings in floors, walls and ceilings.