Working at height

Alan Cox
Member - 36 posts

I routinely ask contractors for their risk assessments and I'm usually very surprised if they are able to produce one, or if they do, they generally don't have any relevance to the job they are doing. Many say that they have left it in the office, a number indicate that they have been doing the job for that long now that they don't need one and some don't have a clue what you are talking about.
The only way that this will improve is if you keep asking them for their assessment and not letting them work if they don't have it. This usually has a very surprising effect.

David Price
Member - 8 posts

You should under No circumstances allow any contractor to work in your premises without a Risk assessment or Method Statement. This is your proof that they know what they are doing and how they intend to carry it out, and the risks involved.

The problem starts when anyone allows a contractor to fob them off as to why they don't have the nessessary paperwork, also it is no good if a good contractor supplies the RA & MS but the person checking them doesn't know what to look for when reading them.

I have come across so many so called Facilities Managers who are really just normal office staff who were given the role because no one else wanted to do it, and they don't know what to ask for from the contractor or in fact don't even read paperwork when they are given it.

Small contractors don't tend to have the nessessary RA or MS simply because they don't have the time to put pen to paper and provide one, furthermore even some larger companys are just as bad, and fail to keep theirs up to date.

Most people these days just want the job done, as they know that the paperwork takes longer than the job to complete. But if we don't stick to our guns then slowly but surely the Cowboy element will slip back into the workplace, and an accident is sure to follow.

Alan Cork
Member - 6 posts

It is both sad and a relief that I am not the only one experiencing this. I have been in Facilities for 25 years and would have liked things to have improved in this time, but they haven't.
I always ensure full compliance when at tender stage. The problem is with the small to medium sized jobs that do not justify a tender. Where the supplier is clearly not up to the job of assessing their own risks I will either do the assessment myself or refuse to let the work start, depending on the risk.
It is often disruptive to refuse to let the work start as it conflicts with the business requirement but it appears the only way this will improve is if we force the issue when appointing suppliers.
As David says, our industry is still full of inexperienced "FMs" that allow unsafe practices to continue.

Kevin Brown
Member - 61 posts

Just yesterday I was risk assessing in an office building with an IOSH qualified TU rep. He told me that a couple of weeks ago a cast iron drainpipe running by the side of his window had come adrift from the external wall and was swinging back and forth in the wind across the width of the window. "Fortunately" he said" the landlord had builders on site and one of them hung out of the (3rd floor) window with his cordless drill and resecured it". When I challenged this method of working he tried to justify it by saying staff in the immediate vicinity were in danger from flying glass if the drainpipe fell through the window. When I mentioned there were spare desks at the opposite side of the floor that they could have moved to he declined to comment, as did his manager. When I tentatively raised the issue of clearing the area as a precaution under Business Continuity principles I was met with a look of total incomprehension only surpassed by a deafening silence by staff and managers alike.
(I noticed as I left the office that the TU rep had displayed his IOSH certificate prominently .... right next to the window he'd watched a builder hanging out of).
I've now discovered that in the same building, due to lack of attention to the hinges of the tilting windows, window cleaners regularly take unnecessary risks without recourse to eye bolts, fall arrest equipment etc. Honestly, you couldn't make it up ...
As Alan says, there are too many inexperienced FMs out there who've been appointed purely for the sake of expediency and, in MHO, a call centre culture has led to near-extinction of the intelligent client in the relentless pursuit of 'core' business.

Alan Cork
Member - 6 posts

A deafening silence from all those FMs that have total confidence in their contractors in managing Working at Height.....

Alan Cox
Member - 36 posts

Alan,
To do a Risk Assessment for someone else is asking for trouble - how would you feel if you did the RA and someone had an accident or worse still a fatality happened? And there could be worse to come as if there was a prosecution and it was your RA at fault you could find yourself in Court. It's not your job to do the RA - if they can't show you one don't let them do the work - they will soon get the message.
The best person to do the RA is the person concerned or their company as they should know all of the risks involved - your job would be to inform them of any particular difficulties they may encounter, known risks and general health and safety information about the building - that's all.
Alan

Alan Cork
Member - 6 posts

I am indebted to Alan for his concern and advice.
I have some small maintenance contracts up for review and will see how this particular, well established and successful, company responds to a refusal to renew until RA and MS are provided.

Ged Keane
Member - 2 posts

All the type of work mentioned is classed as construction work as defined by the CDM Regs 2007, which falls under part 2 of CDM i.e non notifiable, therefore as Clients you have to determine competency of the contractor before you appoint them. Appendix 4 of CDM lists key areas to look at when assessing contractors, although asking for MS and RA from previous work would help determine their competency.