As chief engineer at Allianz Cornhill Phil Wright knows a thing or two about health and safety legislation and the importance it has in the insurance world. He discusses the risks and regulations associated with working in the air.
Here is yet another acronym for you to get your heads around, it's the WAHR! For you buffs on Health and Safety Legislation, just add it to PUWER, LOLER, COSHH and all the others.
WAHR actually stands for the “Work At Height Regulations” 2005, and it came into force on the 6th April this year. It is the government's way of implementing the European Council's Directive entitled: The Temporary Work at Height Directive.
The cynic could look at this new regulation and say wonderful! As usual we have gone at least one step further than anyone else in the European Community and removed from our piece of legislation, any reference to ‘temporary', but that would not be fair.
The fact is, falls from height remain the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and major injury in the UK and this is particularly relevant to the construction industry where, last year, 40% of fatalities were the result of falls from height.
There has long been a concern about the large number of major injuries caused by low falls, a term often used for falls from below two metres. You would probably be quite surprised at how badly one can injure oneself in this way. Industry and Commerce across the UK certainly knows the cost.
The WAHR has already attracted more than its share of scorn and criticism. The popular press has branded it as yet another example of the suffocating hand of the ‘nanny state', hell bent on destroying our competitive edge and ruining our pleasure.
The Health and Safety Executive was stung by the vehemence of the criticism of the Regulation when it was first circulated for public comment. People read into it what they wanted to read, but the result was that the HSE has published a whole series of Guidance Notes to the WAHR, aimed at specific sections of industry as well as those with responsibilities for health and safety in the workplace in general.
They all carry the same essential messages and they are good ones for insurers and brokers to be aware of.
Firstly is the good news that those following good practice for work at height will in all probability already be doing enough to comply with the new regulations.
Secondly, the WAHR applies everywhere that the Health and Safety at Work Act applies – and that means just about everywhere.
Thirdly, follow the simple rules; read the regulations! Avoid work at height if you can but if you can't, assess the risks, act on your assessment, train your staff and provide them with the right equipment.
Quite simple really. I don't know what all the fuss was about.
