Are your workers at risk of a fall from height?

Here are a selection of accident reports to help you decide.

• While putting hand towels onto shelf she was standing on small bench and she fell off hitting her back on a sink.
• The cleaner was attending a problem in the gents toilets in the building to change a siphon on a high level cistern for the urinal stalls. This required access into the stalls and use of a stepladder. The ladder displaced under the worker and he fell to the ground.
• The cleaner was standing on an aluminium stepladder adjusting some lights. The ladder collapsed and he fell to the carpeted floor landing mainly on his elbow. He sustained bruises and now has stiff muscles. Doctor advised rest. Rivets in the ladder appear to have come loose.
• The cleaner had been clearing some debris from the roof using a ladder. Whilst coming down the ladder she lost her footing because her shoes were damp. She fell approximately 6 feet and suffered a broken wrist and bruising.
• The worker had been cleaning gutters from a ladder and on descending he slipped off a rung approximately 1 metre from the floor. He struck his face on the ladder and fell back hit his head and injuring his wrist. It was not known at the time the serious nature of the injuries.
• It is thought that the cleaner was standing on a surface cleaning the extractor fan when he slipped causing the break to his hand. The counter is about a metre off the ground. We are not 100% sure that that is exactly what happened.
• The cleaner was standing on a chair to clean a cooker hood and fell.
• The worker was in the dry store putting tape on the walls using a wooden stool. The stool broke and he fell against the racking. The stool is 50cm high. Given first aid treatment and taken to hospital where it was diagnosed a fractured rib.

Useful links

• What's the risk - Welcome to Fallington
• The rules - Work at height guidance
• Ladder guidance – If its right to use a ladder, use the right ladder, use it safely