PACI

Working At Height (construction, tower climbing, roof access, tree climbing) - Public access

Most of the material found on this website is freely available in the public domain. Original authors have been acknowledged where this information is available.

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Legal disclaimer (technical jargon ahead!)

No responsibility is accepted for the technical accuracy of any documents outside the direct control of PACI Pty Ltd (some of which cannot be verified). Any reliance placed on the information contained herein is understood to be at your own risk. To the maximum extent permitted under Australian law, PACI Pty Ltd, its directors, members and employees do not accept legal liability for any damages incurred as a result of reliance placed on the documents contained at this site. If you disagree with any of these terms, you should leave this site now.

This site is freely accessible to the public and no monetary gain, profit or reward is obtained by PACI Pty Ltd, its directors or employees or anyone else connected with PACI. The information is provided in good faith and as a contribution to global knowledge that relates to safety at height. We would welcome any suggestions and/or contributions from interested members of the public. If you use PACI authored materials as part of your training resources, you are required to acknowledge PACI and Mark Gommers as the original author.

The documents on this site are in Adobe PDF file format.

To download the PDF files, right click and select "Save target as" (if using Microsoft Internet Explorer). If you are using Mozilla Firefox, right click and select "Save link as". You will then be asked to select a folder to save the file to. Alternatively, you can left click and the file will immediately begin downloading to your browser if you have Adobe Acrobat reader VER 9.0 installed (or later versions). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader VER 9.0 or later versions, please go here to download the free program.

this is a work in progress...

Working at Height
	ARTICLE	VER	DESCRIPTION	SIZE
1	Suspension trauma	2011	Paper presented at the 2011 ITRS detailing latest findings on the issue of suspension trauma (aka harness hang syndrome).	4.79 MB
2	Permanent end terminations	1.0 26/April/2012	Technote for making a risk-based decision on allowing workers to tie own knots as part of a fall protection system.	158 KB
3	Harnesses for roof work	1.0 26/April/2012	Technote for choosing a proper harness suited for working on pitched roof surfaces. It continuously amazes this author how many harnesses advertised as a 'roofers harness' are actually not fit for purpose.	322 KB
4	Lanyard connectors	1.1 10/July/2012	Technote for selecting secure connectors for the lanyard-to-harness interface. It continuously surprises the author how connectors with known risks still exist in the market - and indeed on many industrial sites. The cause of this is ignorance and a distinct lack of will to take positive action.	210 KB
5	Fall protection in a boom type EWP	1.0 05/June/2012	Technote for choosing the correct type of PPE to prevent workers from falling out of boom type EWPs. There is a surprising culture of using fixed length lanyards in EWPs - most likely caused by workers and supervisors simply applying 'business as usual' attitudes transferred from one site to the next. If you are responsible for issuing workers with fixed length lanyards for boom type EWPs, you are contributing to a culture of fall-arrest instead of fall-prevention.	250 KB
6	Connector security	1.0 05/June/2012	Technote for choosing an appropriate connector for general work at height at industrial workplaces. There are a myriad of connectors on the open market - and a surprising number simply follow the same old culture of 'business as usual'. Ironically, the most common type of connector (the double-acting snap hook) is actually one of the least secure designs in some PPE configurations.	456 KB
7	Summary of harmonised OHS laws	1.2 06/March/2012	Handy summary of the new harmonised Work Health and Safety legislation introduced 01 January 2012 (applies to several Australian States). Legal notice: This document is not advice. No document can be a substitute for receiving sound legal advice from a competent legal practitioner. To the maximum extent permissible under Australian law, PACI Pty Ltd and its Directors, employers, members and business partners are not responsible for any consequences or damages arising from the use of this document.	223 KB
8	Tagging harnesses (inspection tags)	1.1 19/June/2012	This technote examines the current state of play with tagging PPE such as harnesses and lanyards. This author can confirm that accidents and near misses have resulted from inappropriately positioned inspection tags. Personal observations by the author confirms that many individuals who affix tags have poor levels of training and understanding of the risks associated with their use. A substantial percentage of these individuals are riggers or come from a rigging/lifting industry background. The underlying assumption is that a person who is a 'rigger' by definition is also an expert on PPE and working at height. This assumption is completely flawed. The actual quality and degree of rigor in carrying out physical inspections of harnesses and lanyards is generally poor. A question that simply isn't asked frequently enough is; 'How thorough is your PPE really being inspected?'	441 KB
9	Fallen worker retrieval		Coming soon
10	Using foreign PPE in Australia		Coming soon This technote will examine the commonly held belief that PPE used at Australian industrial workplaces (eg construction sites) must have Australian Standards labelling and certification. This widely held belief is completely inaccurate and in fact is contrary to the real legal position. It is the belief of this author that this myth was originated by Australian manufacturers and PPE retailers who have an interest in promoting their own stock. Site safety officers generally don't possess specialist knowledge on PPE and working at height - and thus they are easy targets for misinformation. The general workforce simply perpetuate the myth - and perception then becomes reality.
11	Double hook (twin-tail) lanyards		Coming soon
12	Permit for working at height	1.3 01/Sep/2009	Generic permit for industrial working at height - this permit prompts the user with some key questions such as; where lanyard is attached to harness, connector security and stability, and the availability of a fallen worker retrieval kit. We have tried to make it user friendly and limited to 2 pages.	27 KB
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

Send your suggestions to us via the 'contact us' page!

PO Box 362 Castletown
HYDE PARK
TOWNSVILLE QLD 4812
Australia

Tel +61 7 4721 4746
Fax +61 7 4771 4150

https://abpages.com