Safety Practices in the Industry:

Overhead Works

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement in:

“Safety in the Process Industry” (ChE 538)

Submitted by:

GATO, JOEBE ZERLYN N.

Chemical Engineering Student

Submitted to:

ENGR. FERNANDEZ, ANGELITA G.

Instructor / Program Head

SEPTEMBER 2017
 JOEBE ZERLYN GATO
Safety Practices in the Industry: Overhead Works

INTRODUCTION: What are Overhead Works?

It is inevitable that workers might need to do work that is above their heads.
Common scenarios of this are scenes in the construction site, such as hammering,
drilling, applying, etc. down to scenes in the retail business where salesman or
saleslady stocking up on tall shelves. So, what are overhead works? Overhead works,
as defined by the National Safety Council (NSC) in their “Safety + Health” Magazine,
are works that require you to raise one or both of your hands and arms above your
shoulder/s. Commonly, the term gets entangled with “work overhead”, a jargon from
the business perspective, that is why overhead work is commonly referred as
“working at height” or simply as “work at height”.

It was stated in the article that this gives a lot of workers injury detailing from
back pains down to arthritis and sprains. These reasons are what lead to the creation
of safety procedures to help prevent risk aligned with overhead works.

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH COUNCIL (HONG KONG)

As Hong Kong values the safety regarding overhead works, they have launched a
“three safety bubbies” (yes, it was noted on their website as “bubbies” … maybe it
was a typo and might be “buddies”) system for working at a height below two meters.
These are:

1. Mobile Working Platform

Photos were taken from the following websites, respectively:

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Safety Practices in the Industry: Overhead Works

http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/wait/_common/img/scissor_multi_user.jpg
http://www.solidscaffold.com/UploadFile/pro/big/2011121243166321.jpg

2. Step Platform

Photos were taken from the following website, respectively:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/412k67cUpqL._SX355_.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51t1WzV22WL._SL1010_.jpg

3. Hop – up Platform

Photos were taken from the following website, respectively:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41OBcj2sAdL._SX355_.jpg
https://www.cmxmedicalimaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/MRI-Two-Step-
Platform-Stool.jpg

NHS – HEALTH SCOTLAND: SCOTTISH CENTRE FOR HEALTHY WORKING

LIVES

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Safety Practices in the Industry: Overhead Works

Scotland was much more detailed upon the safety upon working overhead.

Assessing risks from working at height is the highlight when it comes to working in

height.

If work at height cannot be avoided, a risk assessment should be carried out

before any work at height is undertaken. The assessment should highlight the

measures that must be taken to ensure people are not at risk of falling from a height.

The Health and Safety Executive recommends a five-step approach to risk

assessment, and the risk of slips, trips, and falls should also be considered.

Step 1 – Look for hazards associated with falls from a height around the workplace.

Where are people required to work at height? Do they carry out work from ladders,

platforms, scaffolds, or unprotected or fragile roofs?

Step 2 – Decide who might be harmed and how. Who comes into the workplace? Are

they at risk? Are some groups more at risk than others?

Step 3 – Consider the risks. Are there already measures in place to deal with the risks?

Look at areas with unguarded openings or without guard rails and covers. Are regular

inspections carried out?

Step 4 – Record your findings if you have five or more employees.

Step 5 – Regularly review the assessment. If any significant changes take place, make

sure that precautions are still adequate to deal with the risks.

Good practices on working overhead as described by SCHWL:

1. Ladders are acceptable only for access or work of short duration. They

should be:

 erected at the correct angle (4 up to 1 out)

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Safety Practices in the Industry: Overhead Works

 secured (preferably at the top) or footed

 positioned close to the work to avoid over-reaching

 sufficiently protected at the base of any ladder or access equipment to

prevent pedestrians or vehicles bumping into them.

2. Stepladders. When using stepladders, the following precautions should be

taken:

 always spread them to their full extent and lock them off

 do not work on the top platform

 do not use the top tread, tool shelf or rear part of the steps as a foot

support

 only one person should be on the ladder at any one time

 the ladder must be appropriate and of the correct grade for the

intended use.

3. Access equipment

 any hired equipment must be fit for the purpose. Hire contractors must

provide information about the risks involved.

 all access equipment must be properly maintained and regularly

inspected

 those erecting and using access equipment must be competent to do

so, and training should be provided where necessary

 precautions must be taken to prevent the fall of objects or persons

 do not increase reach by placing ladders on access equipment.

4. Mobile elevated platforms

 use the platform only on level, firm ground

 only use the equipment with outriggers and stabilizers

 work with a trained operator at ground level

 safety harnesses must be worn while on the platform

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Safety Practices in the Industry: Overhead Works

 keep the platform within safe working limits and radius, taking account

of wind speeds.

5. Scaffold towers – Scaffold towers should:

 be erected by a competent person

 have a height to base dimension ratio not exceeding 3 to 1 indoors, or

2.5 to 1 outdoors

 have stabilizers deployed as necessary to meet the correct height to

base ratio

 use outriggers or stabilizers if above 2.5 m high

 have all casters firmly locked before use

 have ladder access to the working platform

 never be moved while the tower is occupied

 be regularly inspected and maintained.

HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE (UNITED KINGDOM)

They give step by step procedures and details upon working overhead before,

during and after construction works. They value overhead work as much as Scotland

did, and was the source of the risk assessment on working in height that was stated

above. The HSC recommends that the worker that will be working overhead must be

competent upon performing such task:

How do you decide if someone is ‘competent’ to work at height?

You should make sure that people with sufficient skills, knowledge, and

experience are employed to perform the task, or, if they are being trained, that they

work under the supervision of somebody competent to do it.

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Safety Practices in the Industry: Overhead Works

In the case of low-risk, short duration tasks (short duration means tasks that

take less than 30 minutes) involving ladders, competence requirements may be no

more than making sure employees receive instruction on how to use the equipment

safely (e.g. how to tie a ladder properly) and appropriate training.

Training often takes place on the job, it does not always take place in a

classroom. When a more technical level of competence is required, for example

drawing up a plan for assembling a complex scaffold, existing training and

certification schemes drawn up by trade associations and industry is one way to help

demonstrate competence.

I encourage people to read the complete leaflet of the HSE (free to use)

regarding working at height. To access just type in this link into your browser:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg401.pdf

Or simply go to their official website for more specific content regarding this

topic, sadly it is upon the legislation covered only in the United Kingdom. I admittedly

can’t find any related to a Philippine setting.

To summarize the basic content of the leaflet a figure chart was put for good

readability:

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Safety Practices in the Industry: Overhead Works

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Safety Practices in the Industry: Overhead Works

References:

1. National Safety Council – “Safety + Health” Magazine Website – Overhead

Work

http://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/overhead-work-2

2. Occupational Safety and Health Council – Hong Kong – Work at Height

http://www.oshc.org.hk/eng/main/hot/work_at_height/

3. Health and Safety Executive – United Kingdom – Working at Height

http://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/height.htm

4. Health and Safety Executive – United Kingdom – Working at Height Leaflet

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg401.pdf

5. NHS – Health Scotland: Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives – Working

at Height

http://www.healthyworkinglives.com/advice/work-equipment/working-

at-height#assessing