The National Access & Scaffolding Confederation has reiterated its claim that only by using regulated scaffolding firms can businesses be certain of receiving a higher and safer standard of scaffolding practice than that carried out by non-regulated operators.

From 1 January 2011 the HSE will no longer acknowledge the British Standard BS5973:1993 as a recognised standard for the design of tube-and-fitting scaffolding structures.

Fall Arrest Safety Equipment Training (FASET), the trade association serving the safety-net sector, has launched a new four-day training course leading to the award of FASET Specialist Rigger.

The Prefabricated Access Suppliers’ and Manufacturers’Association (PASMA) is undertaking a major review of the fall-prevention methods both it and the HSE currently approve for assembling and dismantling towers: 3T (Through the Trap) and AGR (Advanced Guardrail).

Two students from Glasgow University took to the soapbox to debate the merits of training workers in the use of ladders, as part of the Access Industry Forum’s Working at Height Knowledge Base at the Safety & Health Expo.

The teenage stepson of a farm manager died after falling through the roof of a farm building in Ballindalloch, Scotland.

Two construction companies have been fined a total of £125,000 after a worker fell 21 metres during building work at a hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

A worker at an onion-packaging factory suffered a broken shoulder after falling more than three metres from a ladder.

A Scottish local council has been fined £20,000 after a man drowned when he drove off the unprotected edge of a coastal car park and fell in to the sea.

A steeplejack firm failed to carry out a proper risk assessment or provide suitable equipment for workers at a site where a trainee fell 1.5 metres while dismantling a tower scaffold.

Gary Gallagher considers the role of collective protection in relation to the hierarchy of risk management contained in the Work at Height Regulations, and stresses the importance of scaffold planning and product selection at the outset.

In 2007/08, falls from height accounted for one in five recorded fatalities among employees and nearly half of deaths among the self-employed.1 Peter Bennett looks at two key issues in relation to working at height – training and competence – and unravels what they mean in practice for workers, supervisors and managers.

It is coming up to five years since the Work at Height Regulations came into force amid a storm of controversy. But have they had the desired effect in improving standards of safety? Mike Battman believes they have albeit with some retuning required.

Arboriculture is classed by the HSE as one of the UK’s most dangerous industries, with many of its risks and hazards linked to work at height. Those commissioning such work, as well as the operatives themselves, have been slow to fully embrace safety requirements in this area so now, the industry itself has produced guidance to support the relevant legislation, as Paul Hanson explains.

Legislation governing work at height stipulates that, where protective measures are used, collective methods must be prioritised over personal equipment. Safety nets come under the former, and Tony Seddon provides an insight into how they should be managed, maintained, and installed competently.

Recent acquisitions, mergers, rebranding and other developments in the health and safety supplies sector.

Guidance on best practice when using mobile elevated work platforms (MEWPs) in confined overhead spaces has been released by the Strategic Forum for Construction Plant Safety Group.*

FASET, the trade association and training body for the safety-net rigging and fall-arrest industry, has published a new information pack.

The nine organisations comprising the Access Industry Forum (AIF) have issued a new publication encouraging the safe and proper use of work-at-height equipment.

The Ladder Association has launched a campaign aimed at fighting the over-confident and often-dangerous mentality of ladder users who rely solely on learning on the job.

Comprising five products specifically designed to improve safety when using scaffolding structures, esSGee is a new range of scaffolding accessories from ladder manufacturer Ladder & Fencing Industries (LFI).

Latchways says people all around the world work safely at height thanks to its fall protection systems. With more than 35 years’ experience at the cutting-edge of fall protection, it says it sets the standard for quality, performance, accreditation and support.

Youngman says the BoSS Cam-Lock Advance Guardrail system makes assembly and dismantling of its BoSS Evolution, Ladderspan and Clima towers even quicker and safer than before.

Safesite has provided Frimley Park Hospital with fall-from-height protection to ensure safe access for maintenance and repair of plant and equipment situated on the building’s roofs.

Specialist window-cleaning contractor RJ Norris has recently started using a CTE ZED21J vehicle-mounted access platform from CTE UK to be able to clean a wider range of buildings.