Working at Heights Course: How the Field can be Made Safer for its Workers

Throughout the world, it is rather easy to find jobs that can be incredibly detrimental towards to your immediate wellbeing. Amongst these, you will find a number of jobs that require its workers to operate at incredibly high altitudes, where clocking in the hours sees you spending most of your time in dangerous and sometimes life-threatening situations. Thankfully, you only need to take a few minutes to read through this brief article regarding the many ways in which you can secure your safety while out in the field, as well as how you can enrol into EMCARE's widely coveted and acclaimed working at heights course.

How You Can Ensure Your Safety While Working at High Altitudes

It goes without saying that fields in the workforce that require its employees to operate at heights that far exceed ground level should not be pursued without the much-needed help and training that is provided within EMCARE's very own working at heights course. Without taking the time to prepare yourself, both in terms of the dangers involved while at work as well as how to operate under pressure while hanging seemingly countless metres in the air, you place yourself as well as those working around you at serious risk of great injury and even death in the worst-case scenario.

As a result of the many risks to physical and mental health that are involved, it is absolutely crucial that you first seek out the training that is expertly conveyed and provided by EMCARE's working at heights course before pursuing a field of work that requires you to maintain a high level of composure while working at great heights. This is not only due to the qualifications and certificates that are provided upon completion but also due to the abundance of practical and theoretical experience that you are able to gain before heading out into the field. This article, however, aims to provide you with a few tips and pointers that may help you gain a clearer understanding of what to expect before starting your career training through our working at heights course.

Many people are often surprised by how many jobs are currently available that require its employees to be left suspended in the air at excessive heights for an extended period of time. This seemingly niche job description actually serves countless purposes throughout many different industries as it is often required to get to areas that are sometimes out of reach through standard procedure.

Industries that are greatly benefitted by having employees brave enough to tackle these great altitudes include but are not nearly limited to:

• Forestry - Lumberjacks are often required to scale trees that have become overgrown in one way or another. Aside from having to climb up and down these sometimes excessively large trees, lumberjacks are placed in stressful positions when having to avoid the wooden and leafy debris being emitted from the hefty chainsaws they had to carry up with them in order to get the job done.
• Construction - Oftentimes you may see construction workers working at the top of unfinished houses, buildings, or even skyscrapers. Due to the nature of these constructions remaining unfinished, not all the required safety features and precautions have been implemented, requiring employees to seek out and implement alternate methods and steps in order to secure their immediate wellbeing.
• Electricians - If you are looking to become an electrician, you should expect to find yourself working at steep heights, whether it be in the ceiling above a massive hall or when fixing satellite dishes on the side of skyscrapers, just for starters. This is a field that can sometimes see you working at perilous heights far higher than the average person may be comfortable with while in close contact with exposed electric cables and other dangerous elements, and so requires a clear mind with ample training.

To know when and how to stay safe while working at heights, you first need to know that raising yourself upwards of 4 feet in the air in order to complete a job is considered as "working at heights" This can be seen as getting up onto a ladder, working alongside nearby the edge of a roof, or even working close to an opening in the floor of any size. While these may seem minor when compared to the heights experienced by lumberjacks and construction workers, the bar is set this low as to protect workers from the risk of injury and death as much as is possible, given how fickle our physical health can be in the oddest of times.

Here are just a few tips that could help save you and your colleagues a trip to the emergency room while working at great heights:

Select the right gear for the job.

One of the first things you should do before heading out for a day in the field is to make sure to select only the proper equipment for the job. By taking more than is needed, or by bringing the wrong equipment, you run the risk of confusing yourself due to potentially using the incorrect tools for the job. By taking the time to ensure that you are loaded with the correct personal protective equipment (PPE), it becomes significantly easier to ensure a job well done without the added stress and hassle that could otherwise be experienced.

Different jobs that fulfil different roles while at these heights similarly need different sets of gear to be acquired. For instance, if you need to weld structures together, then choosing a harness that is made to withstand high temperatures such as Kevlar may be best, as opposed to choosing nylon-based harnesses instead. Other variables that need to be considered before a day's work should include your working height, the length of your lanyards, etc.

Inspect Your Gear.

While you now may have the gear needed to complete the job ahead, you still need to do your own inspections in order to ensure that individual pieces of equipment are each up to scratch and are not worn out or damaged in any way. It does not help to reach your sometimes extremely elevated destination only to realise you have come with gear that is almost unusable without fear of further damage. With enough training and prior knowledge, acquired through EMCARE's working at heights course along with ample years of work experience within the field, you will be able to recognise what is acceptable during inspection checks as well as how to proceed once an issue has been found.

Find and Use Reliable Anchor Points

Now that you are equipped with the highest quality equipment that is best suited for the job ahead, where do attach yourself to in order to get started? When manoeuvring yourself towards your destination, it is crucial that you are aware of safe and acceptable anchor points that are not only able to hold your weight, but also provide a clear path forward without placing you at any further risk.

To the first-time worker, decorative pieces of metal or PVC pipes are often confused for being anchor points capable of providing them with the necessary stability. This could not be further from the truth as anchor points are only ever acceptable if they are clearly capable of withstanding a load of 2 500 Kg, and if they were specifically designed and approved by professional engineers and safety officers. This is why it is often best to attach yourself to structural steel beams with the proper clamps when traversing.

Use Railings When Available

For workers that are responsible for attending to rooftop maintenance, or are working in unfinished buildings with little to no safety measures being implemented yet, it can be immensely useful to install and use railings where possible. This provides all employees with a form of passive protection and requires no additional training or equipment in order for its uses to be proven effective. Thankfully, there are many railing systems available that can support a variety of roof types and shapes, providing you and your colleagues with one of the easiest protective systems, regardless of which roof you find yourself on.

Know When to Use Ladders, Lifts, or Scaffolding

Similar to harnesses, the means by which you should move towards your destination is not a one size fits all solution. While ladders are able to provide stability for the user when placed against a wall or spread out at short heights, it quickly begins to lose their supportive abilities the higher up you need to go. In instances like this, where you need to paint the sides of large buildings, scaffolding with added railings may be your safest bet. When fixing street lights on the sides of busy roads, or when the time to complete a certain job is limited, lifts may be best suited for the job, allowing you to scale heights in a safe and efficient manner.

Start Your Working at Heights Course Today with EMCARE

If you are interested in completing a working at heights course in order to broaden career's eventual growth within the fields of construction and forestry, etc. then you should not hesitate to pursue the courses that we provide at EMCARE. Our facilities and courses have become widely acclaimed throughout the country for providing its students with a far greater understanding of how to keep themselves as well as their fellow co-workers as safe as possible while still working as efficiently as possible too.

When enrolling yourself into our working at heights course, you will be provided with training that is specifically designed to have the proper knowledge, attitudes, and skill to work in a safe environment be instilled within you. This minimises the risk of injury while increasing the chances of survival for all of those involved to a great degree, emphasising the need to attend and complete such courses as soon as is possible. Thankfully, EMCARE's working at heights course takes place over only a single day, providing you with a CETA certificate that remains valid for the following two years.

If you are wanting to further enhance your skills past what is provided within this working at heights course, EMCARE has additional courses that provide extensive knowledge that further elaborates upon working in environments where great heights are commonplace. To get started on any of these courses today, you simply need to head over to this very website's homepage and click on the "Contact Us" button found in the top right corner. From this point, you will be provided with a number of options for contacting us. Do not let the physical health of yourself and those around you be put at risk, enrolling in EMCARE's working at heights course may be the safest bet, so contact us today.