Posted By Pete Chidwick Hi folks, although health and safety has always been part of what I do as contracts manager, I have now been asked to help develop and improve our own in house knowledge and working practices. We are a small electrical contractor. I'd be very grateful if anyone could give me a steer in relation to work at height and also the Electricity at Work Regulations. With regard to work at height we use tower scaffolds and sometimes also cherry pickers or scissor lifts. We have experienced operatives and but what type and duration of formal training are people typically providing in these areas and can anyone recommend any good training providers in the midlands? With regard to the Electricity at Work Regulations whilst we are members of NICEIC and ECA I have not been able to find much practical help with the best way of carrying out a detailed risk assessment against the requirements of the regulations themselves. I’ve got the latest HSE guidance HSG85 but I’m really wanting to go through each of the individual regulations and risk assess how we should comply. Can anyone help here? Many thanks, Pete C.

Posted By Pete Chidwick I think you could well be right Chris and we are thinking about this. What I wanted to do though was to get a better feel at least in these areas so that if we do go down this route we will be better informed and better able to spend money wisely, so any thoughts would still be gratefully received.

Posted By peter gotch Hi Pete, Assuming that your electricians are either time served or doing their apprenticeships, seems to me that work at heights, and, in particular, electrical safety could be amongst the least of your H&S problems. Re the access you have referred to guidance is abundant e.g. in downloads from HSE and other websites. Electrics - in terms of occupational H&S [as against safety of the installation to the user]in summary only two important regs in the Electricity at Work Regs Reg 4 - safe as reasonably practicable. Reg 14 - prohibition of work on live, uninsulated equipment unless can justify through risk assessment process [in which case other requirements come into play]. In broader terms what about issues including drilling into unknown asbestos, COSHH, manual handling, ergonomics, exposure to noise and vibration, site transport etc etc etc? These are the areas where those at the sharp end possibly have much more need for you to guide them. This forum cannot be a substitute for your apparent need to procure competent advice. Regards, Peter