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Information Service to the Industry
Introduction
John Holland Pty Ltd recognises the significant risks associated in conducting activities at height within its various Power and other business operations nationally.
In acknowledgement of those risks and with the view to controlling the potential hazards those activities present, John Holland's Power division has established a 'Working at Heights & Tower Climbing Practices Procedure' for the conduct of works at height for all its high voltage power line activities.
This information is published as a Working Safely at Height - Information Service to the Industry (see Disclaimer) and is provided to industry in order to share John Holland's knowledge and experiences of safe working practices for work at height and in order to raise the level of awareness within industry as to the potential hazards and risks that these activities present.
The information provided in the Working Safely at Height - Information Service to the Industry includes:
A full listing of 'Working at Heights & Tower Climbing Practices Procedure', its forms, attachments and guides can be found throughout these descriptions and at the end of this information service.
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Policy Guidance
The John Holland Pty Ltd Power Business Unit 'Working at Heights and Tower Climbing Practices Procedure' is a risk based approach to providing information to employers and employees in order that they can apply that guidance when conducting work at heights.
The procedure also provides guidance for those vested with responsibilities and accountabilities (see Paragragraph 3.0 of Procedure 101) to ensure working at height activities are undertaken safely. This guidance follows the Heirachy of Control process.
The 'Working at height and Tower Climbing Practices Procedure' provided in this 'Working Safely at Height - Information Service to the Industry' gives guidance for:
- General working at height provisions;
- Tower climbing Practices as they apply to John Holland Pty Ltd Power Business Unit;
- Training and Competency requirements; and
- Emergency Preparedness
General working at height guidance includes: (see Paragraph 5.0 of Procedure 101)
- ladder safety;
- Intermediate Fall Arrest Systems (IFAS) equipment selection and use;
- equipment inspection and maintenance;
- Elevated Work Platform (EWP) selection and use; and,
- signage, barricades and security.
Tower climbing practice guidance includes: (see Paragraph 6.0 of Procedure 101)
planning for working at height;
- permit to work at height process requirements; and,
- specific Tower Climbing requirements.
Training competency guidance includes: (see Paragraph 7.0 of Procedure 101)
specific working at heights safety induction; and,
- working at height competency assessment.
Emergency preparedness and response: (see Paragraph 8.0 of Procedure 101)
- requirements for Emergency Response planning; and,
- rescue at height equipment and training requirements.
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General Working at Heights Issues
All work activities at height shall be subjected to a risk assessment process. For the purpose of the John Holland 'Working at Heights & Tower Climbing Practices Procedure" , working at height is considered to be at a height which exceeds 1.8 metres.
It should be acknowledged that the risk of injury to persons working below 1.8 metres is present and risk assessment activities should identify the potential for a fall at any height.
The hierarchy of control process dictates that the risk of injury for a person(s) will minimised if the following controls are implemented in order:
- Avoid or minimise work at height.
- Provide a safe work platform/edge protection.
- Work positioning system.
- Restrained/limited fall arrest.
- Free fall arrest.
Ladder safety processes (see Paragraph 5.3 of Procedure 101) should include methods around the control of ladder usage, ladder step up practices and constraints on using ladders where three points of anchorage can not be used.
The use of Elevated Work Platform (EWP) (see Paragraph 5.15 of Procedure 101) systems should give rise to the nature of the activities being undertaken including environmental conditions in which the EWP will be used. A risk assessment activity must be conducted for all EWP activities.
This includes the requirement to conduct a rescue at height should the circumstances require this action. These need to be planned, coordinated and appropriate employees trained in rescue processes.
Signage, barricades and security (see Paragraph 5.16 of Procedure 101) should give rise to:
- types and location of signage (consider language and literacy considerations);
- drop zone identification;
- public access security arrangements;
- tools and equipment tethering and,
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) requirements.
Other relevant aspects that the John Holland Pty Ltd Power Business Unit 'Working at Heights & Tower Climbing Practices Procedure' also provides for include:
the use of tools and equipment at height;
- communication considerations for employees working at height; and
- fitness of employees to work at height (this includes Alcohol and Other Drugs testing and appropriate medical & functional assessment requirements).
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Equipment Selection and Use
Consideration should be given to Australian Standards requirements for the selection and use of fall arrest equipment.
These references include:
- AS/NZS 1891.1 Safety harnesses
- AS/NZS 1891.2 Horizontal lifeline and rail systems
- AS/NZS 1891.3 Fall arrest devices
- AS/NZS 1891.4 Industrial fall arrest systems and devices
- AS/NZS 1892.5 Portable ladders (selection, safety use and care)
Consideration for these types of equipment should give rise to:
- equipment compatibility (include fit for use, employee fit/weight restrictions);
- lanyard type and selection (including fittings and requirement for twin lanyard systems);
- inertia reel, rope grab and static line system selection;
- 100% attachment requirements;
- equipment inspection and maintenance regimes; and,
- anchorage point selection and certification processes.
The selection of these types of equipment must be made by a competent person and use of these systems must only be conducted by fully trained employees.
An inspection regime should be developed to facilitate inspection of fall arrest equipment prior to use. Fall arrest equipment should be registered and the details of regular maintenance activities recorded.
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Authorised Permit System
Risk assessment activities need to be supplemented by control processes. The coordination of working at height activities should be controlled by an established authorised permit system.
Permit systems act as hold points to ensure that all working at height safety requirements are in place before the work at height occurs. The issue of work permits should be recorded and controlled.
A work permit should provide for:
- location, description of activities, duration and document control;
- control processes (eg, risk assessment, training/competency requirements, rescue control plan);
- equipment requirements and control processes;
- special conditions for work; and
- authorisation and control process.
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Emergency Preparedness
Consideration must be given to emergency procedures and methods of rescue for any planned work at heights activities. In order to ensure these processes are effective, employees vested with these responsibilities must be trained and deemed competent in all respects.
Emergency control considerations should be included as hold points permit control processes.
Emergency Preparedness considerations should give rise to:
- emergency contact details (including communication methods);
- method of rescue (including response and rescue time constraints);
- emergency rescue equipment and materials;
- first aid equipment (this should be established through a first aid risk assessment); and,
- training (including retraining and emergency drills) and competency assessments.
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Training and Competency
Essential to all working at height activities are the training and competency of those employees required to perform those activities. Training and competency assessment should give rise to those employees required to:
- raise and authorise permit systems
- use, inspect and maintain working at height safety equipment;
- initiate and conduct emergency rescue at height (including emergency drills);
- provide first aid medical treatment; and,
- those persons required to deliver this training.
Training activity must be considerate of language and literacy considerations and method of delivery such that those employees with difficulties in these areas fully understand their responsibilities and accountabilities for working at height policy.
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Compliance Monitoring
To ensure that work at height activities are relevant and compliant, workplaces should ensure that an auditing regime is in place and conducted at regular intervals. The results of the auditing should be reviewed and where necessary, changes and/or corrective actions taking to address deficiencies in the system.
Training processes should be reviewed as a result of these changes and employees retrained as required.
Compliance monitoring should include the validity and quality of working at height records.
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Records
Record keeping is essential for working at height activities. Working at height records might include (and not limited to):
- risk assessments and safe working systems;
- training/retraining and competency records (including emergency rescue drills and exercises);
- fitness for work medical assessments (including Alcohol and Drug screening);
- working at height safety equipment registers;
- equipment maintenance records;
- anchorage point certification records;
- working at height plant and associated equipment (eg, scaffolding, work platforms and EWPs, man cages);
- permit processes;
- results of first aid risk assessments; and
- medical treatments.
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Full Listing of Working at Height Documents
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Related Literature Links
The following links provide further relevant information for working safely at height:
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Contact Details
Further information relating to this Information Service to the Industry can be obtained by contacting the John Holland Group Pty Ltd - Manager Group Safety via the contact details indicated below.
Hard copies of this Information Service to Industry will be made available on request
.John Holland will make available members of its Safety Team to discuss aspects of this Information Service to members of the Construction Industry should they require further information on this matter.
Group Safety Manager
John Holland Group Pty Ltd
70 Trenerry Crescent,
Abbotsford, VIC, 3067
Australia
Ph: 61 3 9934 5311
Fax: 61 3 8413 6443
Email: john.holland@jhg.com.au
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Disclaimer
In committing to working safely at height, John Holland Group Pty Ltd and its subsidiary companies (John Holland Group) waive their intellectual property rights to the material published in this Information Service. The information provided should only be used with due skill, care and consideration and in conjunction with assistance from duly qualified occupational health and safety professionals and also advice from your legal advisers. John Holland Group is not an expert in the provision of occupational health and safety advice.
The information made available may not be applicable to all circumstances of a particular usage or may not be accurate, complete, adaptable or applicable to usages other than that for which or from which it was developed, extracted or recorded. John Holland Group in making the Information Service available does so after taking reasonable care however the user must make its own investigations, analysis, reviews, calculations and the like and arrive at its own assessments and conclusions in relation to the information made available and its application to the circumstances of any particular use contemplated by the user. Any statements or opinions in the Information System expressed to be those of third parties are the statements or opinions of those third parties alone and John Holland Group does not purport to endorse the contents of those statements or opinions.
John Holland Group bears no liability for any loss or damage however arising from use of the information in the Information System, including in contract, tort (including negligence) under statute (to the extent that such liability can be limited or excluded) or in equity and the users' use of the Information System is in itself deemed to be acceptance of this exclusion of liability and is also a release from any claim by the user for any such liability.
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