Height safety risk: the hidden and the obvious
Working at heights can be risk-y business, not only to workers and contractors but also your business. Some risks are obvious – such as a broken guardrail increasing a worker’s risk of injury – while others only become apparent when they cause injury.
Something as simple as a hazard blocking access to your roof or causing system non-compliance can introduce operational risk, with contractors refusing to complete maintenance or service. This can cause extensive downtime and impact business efficiency, in turn creating financial risk and costing you money.
By regularly assessing your systems and equipment for risk, you can proactively take measures to minimise financial and operational impacts and risk of injury. Our height safety experts can identify potential risks, assessing them against your internal risk levels, and propose actions to decrease height safety risk and unlock efficiencies. In turn, creating a safer environment for your team, contractors and business.
Does system design play a part in assessing your level of risk?
Your height safety system can contribute to its level of risk. While the system itself may be compliant to manufacturers’ or industry requirements, it may be the wrong design (or system) for the application. This can put the user at unnecessary risk without them (or you) realising. For example, you may have an anchor point system in place where a guardrail should be used to ensure a safe working environment.
As experts in height safety system design, our team can identify and recommend system changes to reduce your level of risk. Our assessments also include all you need to start capex and project discussions to resolve the issues.
Our risk assessment approach
Bringing together our industry knowledge and 45-years practical experience, we have developed a five-step approach to risk management assessments and audits. Starting with identifying hazards associated with each task through to review compliance requirements, our experts can provide you with recommendations to minimise and manage height safety risk. We’ll also provide you with an estimate, scope of works and layouts to implement our recommendations, making business cases or budget requests easy.
Our comprehensive risk assessment services are provided by certified experts, specialising in risk management, and are developed in line with Australian standards and the hierarchy of controls. To ensure compliance and align risk management assessments across your site, we recommend booking a full-site audit and assessment. This not only simplifies preventative maintenance schedules but also provides a complete view of risk requirements for your business.
Identify areas and tasks
Identify hazards and risks
Verify compliance
Reporting & Recommendations
Our 4-step approach
We’ve developed this approach to provide a comprehensive risk assessment for your business. Whether we’re assessing roof access or a facade, you can be confident your assessment will be provided to the highest standard by independent experts.
1. Identify areas and tasks
We start by identifying each task, stepping through how, when and where your team (or contractors) perform maintenance or service at a height. This helps us identify any and all systems, equipment and associated documentation or training that may be required, as well as the area they are performed.
2. Identify hazards and risks
Hazards can be caused by a number of factors, including the area a task is performed. That’s why we review all systems, equipment and the area identified in step 1 for potential hazards. This could be potential hazards in particular situations as well as physical hazards that are causing immediate danger. We’ll also assess the level of risk according to your risk matrix and against the hierarchy of controls.
3. Verify compliance
This step is all about assessing if your height safety systems and equipment are compliant with Australian standards and industry regulations. Our experts are certified and trained in the latest compliance requirements for both height safety systems and associated equipment. Being NATA accredited, we can do on-site testing of systems and equipment as required.
4. Reporting & Recommendations
We take everything we’ve uncovered from your assessment and develop expert recommendations to decrease your level of risk and better manage associated risk for each task. These recommendations can be physical changes to decrease your level of risk, to ensure compliance, or related to height safety and fall prevention.
We then collate all this detail into a risk assessment report. To support any internal discussions, we include cost outlines, a scope of work and layout plans on how to best implement our recommendations. These can then be added into a business case, funding proposal or provided to construction groups as part of a tender process.
Do you know your current level of risk?
Working at heights can be risky business, not only to workers and contractors but also your business. Take our online height safety tool to assess po
Use Our Risk MeterRisk assessment services by maintenance task
Access to the roof
From ladders to walkways, we’ll assess all ways your workers access your roof.
Access to serviceable plant and equipment
Ensuring safe access to plant equipment and HVAC.
Access to gutter
Reviewing how safe your gutters can be cleaned and accessed for maintenance.
Access to solar panel cleaning
Solar panels take up so much space. But can they be safely accessed?
Access to Facade
Assessing all the ways your facade is used for building tasks and maintenance.
Cooling Tower Maintenance
Are you providing easy and safe access to your cooling towers?
Fragile and Brittle surfaces
How your workers safely interact with surfaces such as skylights or laserlite.
Other areas
Need another area assessed? Our team can provide expert recommendations.
Workplace Access and Safety:
Your height safety and fall prevention experts
Independent height safety experts
- Independent height safety experts
- 45 years’ industry experience
- National certified specialists, inspectors and engineers
- Height safety advice, risk assessments and consulting
Combining years of practical experience and industry expertise, you can be confident in the compliance and safety of your system.
From site assessments and system design to testing, inspections and certifications, we’re here to provide expert advice to keep your business protected and workplace safe.
