Let’s start with a simple question. What are the fall protection standards in Edmonton? It is a complex subject that we will help you to understand.
Edmonton Occupational Health and Safety law requires action when a worker has the potential to fall about three meters. In most cases, your working site will require fall protection when:
- Working at the height of 3 meters or more (for permanent or temporary work areas)
- Working at the height of fewer than 3 meters when the surface below poses a risk of greater injury than just a fall (like the presence of machinery, open tanks, a pit containing hazardous materials, or the risk of drowning in water)
- A worker might fall through an opening in the work surface
- When authority determines that fall protection equipment is necessary
Edmonton’s jurisdictions require the use of specific fall protection measures before or in addition to personal protective equipment.
What Are the Fall Protection Standards in Edmonton ?
Fall protection standards measures include:
- Warning barriers or control zones
- Fixed barriers (that include handrails and guardrails)
- Surface opening protection (like covers and guardrails)
- Fall or travel restraint systems (systems that prevent a worker from falling from a work position or from traveling to an unguarded edge from which the worker could fall)
- Fall containment system (like the safety net)
- Fall arrest system (systems that stops a fall before the worker hits the surface below)
Some situations call for specific legal requirements around the use of equipment like ladders and scaffolding.
What Are the Applicable Fall Protection Standards in Edmonton ?
Like any other Canadian province, the governmental safety standards regulate works at height. As an employer, you must ensure that the methods and materials in use comply with the applicable standards.
What’s more, you’ve to ensure everyone on the site is familiar with fall protection training to your workers so that they don’t take additional risks besides working at height.
Employers responsibilities for fall protection in Edmonton
Your supervisors have the responsibility of:
- Familiarizing with the content of the application of code of practice for fall protection at height
- Take a protection training course to familiarize themselves with the fall protection procedures
- Ensure that workers perform work at a height according to fall protection planning
- Ensure workers have taken fall protection course to complete the task according to the OSSA fall protection program
Fall protection standards in Edmonton for employees
- Have fall protection safety training
- Provide proof of training on demand
- Comply with Alberta’s safety code for works at height
That said, how do you formulate a fall protection plan so that you can get the right fall protection systems?
Fall Protection Plan that Complies with OHS Safety Act
Where a worker may fall 3 meters or more, and there aren’t guardrails, you should use a fall protection plan to comply with the OH&S code. Your plan should specify:
- All fall hazards on the worksite
- The fall protection system that’ll be in use at the worksite
- The anchors worked will use during the work
- That the clearance distances below the work area are sufficient to prevent the workers from striking the ground
- The procedure you’ll use to assemble, maintain, inspect, use and disassemble the fall protection system
- Rescue planning in case a worker falls and is suspended in a personal fall arrest system or safety net and need rescue
The fall protection plan must be available at the worksite and reviewed with workers before work with a falling risk begins.
Contact Delta Prevention for more information about fall protection standards in Edmonton
Looking to know more about fall standards protection in Edmonton ? Contact specialists from Delta Prevention today. They will help you find the right information and equipment that will meet all your fall prevention needs!