Bond – don’t forget your work at height training!

If you’re a fan of Bond films you will have noticed that a lot of the action in the latest film Spectre takes place on the rooftops of buildings in Mexico City and Rome.  However, all that leaping from one building to another begs the question – what about work at height training?!

If a Work at Height inspector was to carry out a risk assessment of the route that Bond takes and the equipment needed to do it safely, there would undoubtedly need to be a whole lot of PPE and harnesses in place.  It wouldn’t make great film footage, but it would help to prevent Daniel Craig from falling!

Joking aside, Work at Height training is a very serious subject.  Figures from the Health and Safety Executive show that falls from height were the most common cause of workplace fatalities, accounting for almost 30% of fatal injuries to workers.  There were 39 fatalities as a result from a fall from height in 2013/14, with fatal fall injury numbers remaining constant.  The number of fatal injuries that are due to falls from height has not decreased either.  Around half of the fatal injuries were from workers in the construction industry.  With regards fall from height injuries, there were, in 2013/14 for example, 4,300 injuries resulting in over three days off work and 3,038 injuries from height that required workers to take over seven days off work.

Businesses are becoming more aware of corporate manslaughter and the fact that they could be found liable personally for any serious injury or fatality.  Employers should refer to the Work at Height Regulations (WAH 2005).  There are a constant stream of enforcement's ever year, for example in 2013/14 the HSE prosecuted 77 cases under the Work at Height act 2005.  Out of these, there were 73 convictions with an average fine of over £8,000 pounds.  The number of prosecutions and average fines were all higher than for the previous five years.

So it is clearly evident why work at height training is so important.  This type of training should be seen as an investment in your workforce, as well as minimising risks to a business by remaining compliant.  Our Work at Height training courses are fully certified and once completed successfully, the certification is valid for three years.  Refresher training is also available, which, like our other courses, can be carried out at customer premises or in our own purpose-built training centre in Sheffield.