WorkSafe ACT has kicked off an inspection program focusing on work safety at height in the residential housing industry throughout the Territory.

“The Getting Home Safelyreport highlighted falls from heights as a leading cause of serious injuries in the construction industry,” the ACT Work Safety Commissioner, Mark McCabe, said earlier this week.

“This is backed up by analysis from Safe Work Australia which identifies falls from heights as the leading cause of fatalities and a major cause of serious injuries in the industry.”

“The aim of this program is to ensure that both employers and workers are doing the right thing when it comes to working at heights. Inspectors will promote awareness of the provisions of relevant legislation such as the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and associated regulations, and they will check the level of compliance on sites where working at height is required.”

The scheme will see inspectors talk with workers, employers and their representatives at each site they visit to determine the appropriateness of the safety measures in place, with a particular focus on ladders, scaffolding and roofs.

“Nationally, ladders, in particular, have been involved in nearly half of the construction fatalities resulting from working at height,” Mr McCabe said. “We have seen a number of serious injuries here in the ACT recently which have involved falls from ladders. Several of the workers involved in those incidents have been very lucky not to have sustained even more serious injuries than they did.

This inspection program will help the industry focus their attention on thisspecific high risk activity.”

“Generally, our inspectors will take an educative approach in their discussions. More serious issues, however, may lead to formal notices such as Improvement or Prohibition Notices,” Mr McCabe said.

“Some issues may result in Infringement Notices (i.e. on-the-spot fines).”

The week long program launched on April 9.