Working at height comes with an increased risk of injury. This begs the question, is there a minimum height from which a worker can fall without injury?
What Is a Fall From Height?
There is no minimum height from which you can fall without sustaining injury. Even a trip or a slip at ground level can result in serious injury or worse. This risk only increases the higher you go. In addition, to paraphrase a famous saying, it isn’t the fall that gets you, it’s the sudden stop.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) define working at height as “work in any place where, if precautions were not taken, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury.”
Given that a tripping over a toolbox on the ground can cause personal injury, there is a caveat: “Work at height does not include a slip or a trip on the level, as a fall from height has to involve a fall from one level to a lower level”. This means that while a slip at ground level risks personal injury, it doesn’t constitute a fall from height, no matter how tall you are. It also means that a fall while working on a platform at height that doesn’t lead to falling further down is also not considered a fall from height.
Even falling from a low work platform can cause serious or deadly injuries, so it is extremely important to use the right safety equipment for the task. This equipment can include:
• Safety harnesses
• Energy-absorbing lanyards
• Helmets
• Fall-arrest blocks
Working At Height Risk Assessment
Under the Work at Height Regulations 2005, if you are going to be working from height, or you employ people who will be working at height, you are legally required to perform a risk assessment. This will help you plan and organise the work to ensure it is completed as safely as possible.
The risk assessment will help you determine whether you need a fall arrest or a fall restraint system in place. A fall restraint system will help stop you from falling, reducing the chance of an injury. Meanwhile, a fall arrest system stops you before you hit the ground, which is always good but does not do much to reduce the potential for injury.
READ MORE: Fall Arrest vs Fall Restraint
Working at height greatly increases your risk of injury, so it’s vital to use the right safety equipment to keep yourself or your employees safe. Here at Safety Harness Direct, we sell that safety equipment, from safety harnesses to helmets and more. If you have any queries about our products, don’t hesitate to contact us, and we’ll do our best to answer your questions.
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