A nine metre fall ended in fatality for one Lancashire builder, but man anchors and walkovers could have helped to prevent him from breaking through a fragile warehouse roof. In July 2012, the 39-year-old Fleetwood man was helping to clear debris that had been blocking the gutters on the roof of a toy distributor’s warehouse. […]
A man who fell six metres through a fragile skylight could have escaped injury if the site on which he was working had been properly protected with edge protection and walkovers. Przemyslaw Borkiewicz of Mutley, Plymouth, was working on a garage in Saltash on December 12th 2012 without adequate safety equipment. He had no man […]
Following the paralysis of a 69-year-old man who fell through a rooflight on a Scottish border farm, the HSE is stressing the value of precautions like man anchors and walkovers to prevent similar incidents. On March 14th 2013, Neil Knox was repairing a roof at a farm in Lauder when, during a tea break, he […]
The Construction Industry Council has put out a report on some of the latest advances in ‘eco-electricity’, and it seems likely that some of them will drive demand for rooftop walkovers in the years to come. Walkovers serve several purposes, ranging from acting as demarcation systems to prevent foot access to weak parts of the […]
Safety measures such as installing walkovers to provide safe passage over weak roofs, or guardrails to prevent access to them entirely, have been deemed simple but vital by an HSE spokesperson. HSE inspector Paul Hoskins made the assertion following the conclusion of an investigation into how a young Dagenham man came to fall four metres […]
The concept of a non-fragile roof might make walkovers seem unnecessary, particularly on a roof that has been given an A-rating. But an article circulated in the trade press by Chris Pearce, a founder member of the Advisory Committee for Roofsafety, explains why even a good rating does not mean a roof is totally safe. […]
Stronger walkovers fitted with guardrails could have prevented a fall through a church roof that left one man with a badly broken pelvis, the Health & Safety Executive reports. Southampton father-of-three Allen Smith was working on repairing a hole in the roof of Anerley Methodist Church in Penge, south-east London, in October 2011. He was […]
In two separate HSE verdicts published recently, the importance of walkovers for fragile roofs is highlighted by near-miss incidents. Both involved falls from height after crashing through weak roofs or skylights, but thankfully neither ended in a fatality. In the first incident, dating back to August 2010, 25-year-old James Coe was lifted on to a […]
If there are no magic snowmen around the next time you need to work at altitude, walkovers can have you ‘walking in the air’ just as safely, if not more so. These invaluable platforms double as demarcation systems, highlighting where it is safe to step on the surface of a roof that might be quite […]
Two recent court rulings relating to HSE investigations demonstrate the importance of safety ladders and walkovers as means of reducing the risk of an accident when working at height. While we often look at edge protection in the sense of falling from the edge of a roof, it is equally important to ensure safety while […]