By Chris Coetzee, Health and Safety Consultant, OHSS Consulting
Five high-risk height areas where plumbers need to ensure they prepare for and execute the work in a safe manner.
Chris Coetzee. Image by Chris Coetzee
You have a deadline for a job and are working safely like the procedures tell you to. Everything is going well and then you are told to stop working, because the safety officer is going to give another toolbox talk on fall risk (danger of falling from a height).
You didn’t fall, and you and your teammates are working safely, so why should you stop working and listen? Well, imagine for a minute that on another site, there was a team just like yours. They also worked according to the procedures, but one employee did not hook up while working at heights and fell to a lower level, injuring their spine. The injured employee was rushed to hospital and will be paralysed and never walk again.
The work on this site had to stop and an investigation for incidents had to take place. The area where work was being carried out at heights needs to be reassessed to see if everything was done to prevent a person from falling.
Would you agree that this is something you should know about? This could be something that could also happen to you and your teammates.
If you know that this type of hazard exists and the potential to fall from heights is possible, you would be more aware of the dangers and then act if you see something wrong.
As a plumber, there will be times for you to work at an elevated position and it is at these times where you and your team must be fully aware of the hazards and risks.
Heights Risk Area #1 | Roof
When it comes to working on a roof, many plumbers will state that the work being performed is not “construction” in nature and thus the requirements of the Construction Regulations 2014 do not apply to the work being performed. Does this mean then that we do not have any safety requirements which we can use to work safely on a roof? The Construction Regulations 2014 would in effect still be applicable to any work that is done where an employee would be required to work on or from a roof.
First consider our scenario of a site where an employee did fall due to not being hooked up at heights. The information from the investigation would be of great benefit to us, even if we were not working at heights, as it gives us a clear understanding of what went wrong. Why is this important? Because it allows us to set a ‘benchmark’.
Benchmarking is a systematic process that compares an organisation’s health and safety performance and processes to others in the same industry or against industry standards.
With this benchmark, we can tailor our next site to a higher set of safety standards so that we do not have a repeat of the previous incident and try to achieve a safer working environment. With this type of mindset, we start to create a continual improvement system that ultimately hopefully leads to never having the incidents and accidents that are commonplace among plumbers in South Africa.
Height Risk Area #2 | Ladders
Almost every plumber has come across the need to use a ladder in a plumbing installation. Whether it’s to access a ceiling or roof, or to work on a geyser, the ladder is an excellent tool to give you a safe platform to work on while allowing you adequate reach of the work area. No doubt though, you have seen the videos of people using ladders where accidents have happened. Either the ladder gave way or the person fell from the ladder. In almost all these videos, the cause of the accident is clear: it’s not the ladder, but the way the ladder was set up or used.
If it is a ladder that is used in conjunction with a scaffold it must comply to SANS 10085 Section 10.7. For construction related work where there is a fall, then the Construction Regulations 10: Fall Protection must be adhered to.
General Safety Regulation 13(a) spells out the legislation regarding all other uses of ladders for access to ensure it is a safe means of access.
For a straight ladder being used to access a platform:
- For every 4m you go up, take the ladder 1m away from the structure
- Ensure three points of contact
- Only one person per ladder
- Ladders are designed as ‘one man’ working devices with sufficient strength to support one person as well as his tools
- The ladder is stable and has stable footing
- There is top support
- The ladder is set up correctly
- No tools or equipment can fall off
- It is the right ladder for the work you are doing
- It has been inspected and is safe to use
- Your ladder is too short if you are reaching to get on or off the ladder
- The ladder should extend past the platform at least 900mm to allow for a person to hold the ladder with both hands while stepping onto or off the ladder
- Using a ladder in this manner will cause the ladder to shift under the weight of a person and increase the potential for a fall
The ladder should extend through the opening of the ceiling entrance and allow enough extra overhang to safely step from the ladder to the safe landing inside the ceiling.
For an A-frame ladder:
- The ladder is stable and has stable footing
- The ladder is set up correctly
- No tools or equipment can fall off
- It is the right ladder for the work you are doing?
- Ensure three points of contact
- Only one person per ladder
- Ladders are designed as ‘one man’ working devices with sufficient strength to support one person as well as his tools
- It has been inspected and is safe to use
When checking your ladder:
- Are all the rungs, cleats, or steps in good condition?
- Are the side rails intact without any cracks, bends or breaks?
- Do the rungs, cleats or steps fit snugly into the side rails?
- Is the ladder free of corrosion?
- Are the side rails and steps free of oil or grease?
- Are the ladder’s hardware and fittings secure and undamaged?
- Do moveable parts operate freely without binding or excessive play?
- Are the ropes on extension ladders intact without fraying or excessive wear?
- Are damaged ladders removed from service and marked ‘do not use’?
- Ladders should have a serial number, and all ladders must be placed on a
Ladders are great for work when set up and used in a safe manner.
Height Risk Area #3 | Ceilings
Not every ceiling is the same, and when we arrive on a site to perform work in a ceiling, we need to be very careful of the unknown and unseen dangers.
Let us look at a ceiling and see what we can plan for before even getting into a ceiling:
Access: Safe access means that we can have three points of contact from the ground all the way into the ceiling. We can easily get into and out of the ceiling void.
Restricted movement (cramped space): Often a ceiling does not have enough space for a person to stand upright. You will find yourself stooping or bending over to get to and from the access hatch and the work area. This could result in ergonomic strains and stressors, as well as limited workspace essentially creating a confined space.
Lighting: Some ceilings have a built-in light for post construction work, but this is not always the case, so ensuring you can see where to go and how to work is vital. Dark areas or shadows can cause a person to trip and fall, either to the same level or tragically through a ceiling to a lower level.
Dust and biological hazards: Ceilings are not known as areas where you could eat your lunch off a rafter. Rather, they are known to be dusty and full of potentially dangerous biological dangers such as bird or rodent droppings. When walking, traversing or working in this type of environment, you are likely to kick up some dust or agitate the area that could lead to inhalation of dangerous bacteria or viruses.
These are only a few things that we could foresee as dangerous when work must be performed from a ceiling. This is why it is so important to perform a risk assessment prior to accessing a ceiling, so that you are prepared for any potential hazard. Once you have accessed the ceiling and found additional hazards, such as electrical cables, add these to the risk assessment by performing a Daily Supervisory Task Instruction (DSTI). Identify the risks and update the next set of ceiling work inspections with this information.
Height Risk Area #4 | Scaffolding
All scaffolding work must be performed in line with the SANS 10085 (SABS 085) standard. It must be inspected by a competent person, erected by a competent scaffolding erection team and altered or changed to suit the work environment by the same personnel.
All scaffolding needs to be inspected every seven days, after inclement weather conditions, alterations or after an incident. This is then signed off on the scaffolding use tagging, which is a red tag to identify the scaffold as unsafe while being erected, dismantled or altered, and a green tag showing it’s safe to use.
Even though the scaffolding team has been trained in competency for the specific scaffolding being used, every user of the scaffold also has a responsibility to the use of the scaffolding, namely:
- Never alter or change the scaffolding
- Obey the fall protection plan
- Wear a harness where required and have 100% hook off
- Never leave tools or equipment laying on platforms
- Never throw items from scaffolding
When it comes to a safe scaffolding, rather choose a contractor that will adhere to the standard and do not place your life in the hands of someone who does not respect safety.
Height Risk Area #5 | MEWP (Mobile Elevated Work Platforms) The last heights activity a plumber may perform is the operation of a MEWP such as a cherry picker or scissors lift.
- Always be aware of your surroundings
- Never move the MEWP while in an elevated position
- Never exceed the safe working load
- Always ensure you are competent to operate the MEWP
- Inspect and regularly check the MEWP
Don’t take chances with hazards and risks on a site, adhere to the ‘high-five’ of working at heights and be prepared for the dangers. Excel and strive for safety brilliance!
Register for free to gain access the digital library for Plumbing Africa publications
