SA Affordable Housing September - October 2019 // ISSUE: 78 | Page 17

FEATURE
Safety comes first when working at height.
3. A contractor must ensure that:
a. All unprotected openings in floors, edges, slabs,
hatchways and stairways are adequately guarded,
fenced or barricaded or that similar means are used
to safeguard any person from falling through such
openings;
b. No person is required to work in a fall risk
position, unless such work is performed safely as
contemplated in sub-regulation (2);
c. Fall prevention and fall arrest equipment are:
i. Approved as suitable and of sufficient strength
for the purpose for which they are being used,
having regard to the work being carried out and
the load, including any person, they are intended
to bear; and
ii. Securely attached to a structure or plant, and the
structure or plant and the means of attachment
thereto are suitable and of sufficient strength and
stability for the purpose of safely supporting the
equipment and any person who could fall; and
iii. fall arrest equipment is used only where it is not
reasonably practicable to use fall prevention
equipment.
4. Where roof work is being performed on a construction
site, the contractor must ensure that, in addition to the
requirements set out in sub-regulations (2) and (3), it is
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indicated in the fall protection plan that:
a. The roof work has been properly planned;
b. The roof erectors are competent to carry out the
work;
c. No employee is permitted to work on roofs during
inclement weather conditions or if any conditions are
hazardous to the health and safety of the employee;
d. All covers to openings and fragile material are of
sufficient strength to withstand any imposed loads;
e. Suitable and sufficient platforms, coverings or other
similar means of support have been provided to be
used in such a way that the weight of any person
passing across or working on or from fragile material
is supported; and
f. Suitable and sufficient guard-rails, barriers and toe-
boards or other similar means of protection prevent,
as far as is reasonably practicable, the fall of any
person, material or equipment.
The following contributed to this series of articles:
• Anderson Cilliers – Protekta (www.protekta.co.za).
• Riaan van Staden – Group 583 (www.group583.com).
The third and final part of ‘Working at height has a lot of
depth’ appears in the next issue of SA Affordable Housing.
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019
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