Accidents related to working at height, such as falls and slips, occur regularly and cause injuries that can be serious. They therefore have repercussions on the ability of the worker in question to keep doing their job. This leads in turn to lost work days, costly compensations for the employer, and reduced overall productivity in the company.
Become aware of the risks by analyzing the accidents that have already occurred
By examining a few of the accidents that have occurred over the past few years, it’s possible to reduce the deaths and serious injuries resulting from falls from a height as effectively as possible. To be able to analyze these accidents, encourage your employees to report each incident, regardless of its severity, and search the archives for this subject. Indeed, each workplace accident should be subject to an in-depth analysis within your company. This analysis will let you return to the fundamental circumstances and causes of the slip or fall and to implement the appropriate corrective measures.
Awareness of the accident risks of working at height
Awareness of fall prevention in many workplaces makes it possible to show workers and employers that individual and collective protection equipment and devices exist to reduce falls. Effectively training workers is an essential preventive measure that is inseparable from the act of acquiring risk reduction equipment and ensuring that the workers use it. On the preventive side, you can also use a dangerous situation reporting form to allow your employees to identify a risk present in their workspace at height before an accident occurs.
Use the best protective equipment for working at height
To prevent the risks of accidents, injuries, and even deaths attributable to falls from a height, you must also use the appropriate devices and safety equipment for the work to be performed. When it comes to working at height, the guardrail is the best safety equipment. The guardrail is a kind of railing with several elements that form a protective barrier for roofs, skylights, or light shafts. The composition of a guardrail can vary, but for your industry, you can opt for a freestanding guardrail, which is fast and easy to install, sits on the ground with high adhesion and without any damage and which can be moved easily if necessary. A guardrail must be chosen for its compliance with Canadian standards (NBC and OSHA) and for its resistance to the Canadian climate, so choose a Canadian manufacturer. Securing workspaces at height rather than relying on individual protective measures makes it possible to ensure that all your workers are safe as they move through an area at height.
Like the vast majority of Canadian companies, focus on workplace health and safety, particularly by investing in systems that reduce the risks of falls from a height. For more information about guardrails, don’t hesitate to consult the Delta Prevention team.