Working At Heights Training: Three Careers Where Height Training Is Necessary

There are many who do not fear heights, but rather have made it their career path, for these people who put their lives on the line it is critical that they have "working at heights training". Not only is this necessary for legal reasons, but more importantly this training can directly save their lives in the case of an emergency. There are many jobs in the world today where the need for people to work at height is necessary and for those brave enough to tackle these jobs, safety is the key.

When it comes to the modern South African marketplace, the need for these height workers is no different. Therefore, individuals who are keen to take up these sorts of positions need to be able to rely on world class training that leverages the most up to date techniques and equipment to improve safety. In South Africa, we at EMCARE are proud to be able to provide this service and to help brave men and women take up these dangerous careers in the most protected way possible.

In this article we at EMCARE want to highlight a number of these important career paths and the dangers they face. At the same time highlighting components of our course that can help keep these individuals safe. Not only do we want to show the essential relationship between the underlying careers and our course, but also want to encourage you to consider this course if any of the careers discussed in this article are of interest to you.

Construction Workers

When we generally think about careers that require at least some degree of vertical height work, we tend to imagine construction workers. This is a fair estimation, as one only needs to look around our major city centers like Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Bloemfontein, and the height of some of the buildings found within these commercial zones to understand the need for construction labourers to work at such precarious heights.

There are many dangers that can face these vertical construction workers. One of the common dangers that other height workers may not have to experience is the threat of falling objects like dropped tools or building materials. Building materials like bricks and mortar and tools like chisels could cause life threatening danger if dropped from a few stories up, and when working high up it can be difficult to avoid these dangerous objects. Will EMCARE's working at heights training be able to help in this regard?

Working At Heights Training: Essential Skills For A Construction Worker
When it comes to falling objects on a construction site, especially for those working up in the air, our working at heights training course at EMCARE has you covered with an aspect of training that can completely defend against this danger. Importantly we explain and have our trainees understand and learn to use personal protective equipment (or PPEs). This can include things like helmets, goggles, steel tipped boots and safety jackets. Using PPE correctly can generally protect against falling objects.

Wind Turbine Technicians

Have you ever been driving on our national highways and come across large wind turbines standing in unison in large fields? Did you know that South Africa actually has thirty four wind farms spread across the country that bring in an additional 3400 megawatts of power for the national grid. These impressive wind turbine farms are critical for the national energy load in South Africa. Their need for continual care is left to wind turbine specialists who are expected to ascend these approximately 100 metre wind turbines in order to fix and maintain them.

When thinking about dangers that might be unique to these sort of specialists one glaring safety obstacle is the limitation of escape routes. The confined working space at the top of these tall turbines means at max two people can maintain a turbine at a given time. On top of this one must also consider that the space between the shaft and the blade is narrow, with generally only one ladder set up providing a route up and down. Meaning in the face of extreme weather and temperature stress, rapid exits are not always possible.

Working At Heights Training: Essential Skills For A Wind Turbine Technician
How then can EMCARE's working at height training course help with this? Well one module that is covered in our course is suspension trauma. When quick exits are not possible like with wind turbines, being able to help yourself or another while suspended in the air is crucial to safety and can mean the difference between life and death. Our training will help you better evaluate situations and what must be done while suspended at height without need for rapid descent.

Telecommunications Tower Technicians

One industry that South Africa is continually trying to improve as a developing country is its telecommunication infrastructure. In our modern era, communication and accessibility is one of the largest demands, and the rate at which data can be transferred with newer technologies like 5G mobile data, the physical network needed with telecommunication towers is immense. To give you an idea it was estimated that in 2021 there would be over 74000 cellular towers.

To install and maintain these towers requires technical skills and requires telecommunication tower technicians to work at height on a constant basis. For these workers they face consistent dangers from being exposed to harsh weather environments, dramatic temperature fluctuations, electrocution and life threatening falls. All these dangers need to be protected against working at height training.

Working At Heights Training: Essential Skills For A Tele Communications Tower Technician For those working at height on a consistent basis like telecommunication tower specialists, the EMCARE working at heights training course offers lots of useful knowledge. From risk assessment training, to fall protection plans and legislation pertaining to height safety, our working at heights training course covers it all. These will help technicians feel confident every time they ascend as they know what to do whatever danger befalls them.

Working At Heights Training With EMCARE

At EMCARE we are proud to have been a leading provider of safety training for over twenty years in this country. We pride ourselves on providing top level training that meets international standards. So, for those looking to take to jobs in the skies, consider our working at heights training and the peace of mind it can bring. Visit our website today to learn more about what we offer and FAQ about our working at height's training safety course.