Assessment, reporting and management system to improve height safety

A multinational industrial, commercial and retail property owner engaged National Height Safety & Access Solutions (NHSAS) to audit 73 properties throughout Australia and New Zealand, to ascertain existing control measures.

The audit involved a site review of existing administration processes through to the fall prevention and access systems. A number of minimum safety requirements along with Australian Standards AS1891, AS4488 AND AS1657 and industry codes of practice were used to set the safety benchmarks.

NHSAS utilised CMO Compliance’s (http://cmo-compliance.com/) global audit assessment reporting and management software system.

The audit helped NHSAS record site details, non-compliance, identify safety risks and propose recommended control measures. With the help of the audit software, all the 73 sites were rated on the scale of 100. The sites were then risk-ranked using a simple colour-coded system of red, amber and green.

The audit process took around four months to complete. It enabled the property company to review trouble areas and improve safety through planned outcomes.

The audit process assessed the following areas for compliance: administration controls - contractor management and permit controls; access to roofs - compliance and signage; plant access - safe access and provisions for fall prevention; fall prevention systems - design criteria and compliance; industrial rope access systems - design and documentation such as rigging plans; mobile access equipment on site - compliance and record keeping; specific site areas requiring access such as telecommunications, lighting and water tanks.

The overall summary of the 73 sites recorded the following:

Scoring parameters	Number of sites	Risk ranking identification
0 < 49%	21	Red
50% - 79%	50	Amber
80% > 100%	2	Green

The overall score was 56% for all the 73 properties. Further breakdown of the areas of compliance from the audits were as follows:

Audited detailed areas	Overall score ranking possible score of 100%
Administration controls	34%
Access to roofs	48%
Plant access	57%
Industrial rope access systems	54%
Fall prevention systems	54%
Mobile access equipment on site	68%
Specific site areas requiring access such as telecommunications, lighting and water tanks	34%

The analysis went further into the property type, which showed retail centres scored greater than commercial buildings with the industrial portfolio scoring the least, mainly as many were unmanned and had no permanent on-site management.

Recommendations and learning

The depth of the audit across such a diverse portfolio enabled the client and NHSAS to review a number of areas and put in place and number of planned outcomes.

1. Implement new procedures for permit controls consisting of contractor management, site inductions, working at heights, industrial rope access, elevated work platforms (EWP) and building maintenance units (BMUs).This involved a number of workshops and consultation with all levels of the business from risk management through to the client’s contractor base. Ensuring the contractor base is consulted and engaged with is a critical element of the process.

2. Train all levels of management in safe working at heights to enable a basic understanding of the dangers and parameters required for any persons working at heights under their control. Having site management trained provides another checkpoint in the process of the client’s fall prevention planning.

3. Propose fall prevention systems upgrades - design systems that, where practicable, removed the risks of working at heights; for instance, designing passive systems such as guard railing and walkway systems to areas of plant.

4. Generate roof safety plans - existing systems and colour code (red, amber and green) zoning to identify areas of risk visually for contractors and stakeholders.

5. Produce guidance and recommendations for internal and external contractors for emergency rescue and retrieval planning. Evidence from the audits identified this to be the weakest area of knowledge both internally and from the contractor base. NHSAS researched best practices worldwide from the fall prevention and working at heights industries and produced recommended guidance materials and a number of control forms for the client and contractor base which have already been rolled out.

In summary, fall prevention is often looked at as the physical aspects of access and safety systems, but must go beyond that to achieve a process and outcome that engages all levels of stakeholders and their contractors.