Workcover Roof Safety Mesh Alert

WorkCover has issued an official Safety Alert on the effective use of safety mesh to prevent falls when working on commercial or industrial buildings.

The alert follows the death of a young building worker, Joel Exner, who fell to his death through roof safety mesh last month.

Recent inspections conducted by WorkCover demonstrated that, in some circumstances, safety mesh was being installed incorrectly and did not serve as an effective control measure.

"The occupational health and safety legislation 2001 requires that persons working at heights be protected from the risk of falling, and specifies strict procedures when applying control measures," says NSW WorkCover Chief Executive Officer Jon Blackwell.

"Where there is the risk of persons falling through a roof while installing cladding, the Code of Practice Safe Work on roofs Part 1: Commercial and industrial buildings recommends the use of safety mesh installed on the roof structure," he said.

"In order to be an effective control, the mesh and the overlap between adjacent sections of the mesh must be strong enough to resist the force of a person who may fall onto to it," said Mr Blackwell.

The Safety Alert, Safety mesh used on roofs, is available on the WorkCover website at, www.workcover.nsw.gov.au .

To discuss this and many other interesting OH & S topics visit our discussion boards at http://unionsafe.labor.net.au/shoptalk/

© 2002 UNIONSAFE
This site is sponsored by the Workcover Authority of NSW for Labor Council of NSW

Site designed and engineered by Social Change Online [credits]
This page: http://unionsafe.net.au/news/106870304111981.html
Last modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 20:37:38 EST