PRESS RELEASE: AFI Welcomes Landmark Parliamentary Report to Improve UK's Work at Height Culture
One of the UK's leading powered access specialists, AFI group of companies has welcomed a new report new report urging the Government and the construction industry to undertake a major review of work at height culture.
The Report: Staying Alive: Preventing Serious Injuries and Fatalities While Working at Height was launched in parliament last week by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Working at Height.
Brian Parker, Business Development Manager, Technical Support, AFI Group attended the launch and later said:
“AFI welcomes the APPG’s report on Preventing Serious Injury and Fatalities while Working at Height. Whilst the UK has enviable and proud record on safety, there were still 35 fatalities from falls from height in 2017/18, and 186 in the last 5 years. The report indicates that policymakers, regulators and industry leaders must do more to reduce falls from height, the findings of this report will hopefully help us achieve this.”
The report is the result of a 12 month inquiry by the APPG exploring why the 18% of people who die at work do so as a result of a fall from height, and what steps can be taken by government and industry to prevent incidents for the 10 million people in the UK that work at height. The APPG are now calling on the Government and industry to undertake a major review of work at height culture, expand enhanced reporting and introduce reporting on near misses.
The full report is available for download here.
The Working at Height Report makes four key recommendations to reduce the overall number of falls:
- The introduction of an enhanced reporting system through RIDDOR.
- The appointment of an independent body that allows confidential, enhanced and digital reporting of all near misses, to be shared with government and industry to inform health and safety policy.
- The extension of the Working Well Together – Working Well at Height safety campaigns.
- An equivalent system to Scotland’s Fatal Accident Inquiry process extended to the rest of the UK.
Alison Thewliss, Chair of the APPG on Working at Height and MP for Glasgow Central said:
“Every fall from height can have life-altering consequences for workers and their families. There is an urgent need to improve work at height culture, yet this issue is sadly not at the top of decision-makers’ agenda.”
Health & Safety is a cornerstone of the AFI group of companies, and we are committed to promoting good Health & Safety practice to our customers and the wider market. Every quarter we run a webinar giving helpful information on current topics of interest for those that work at height and use Powered Access. https://www.afi-uplift.co.uk/webinars.