Posted By Stephen Bridgehouse Has anyone from the local authorities or companies that maintain such vehicles decided upon which option to choose regarding working on the top of a refuse vehicle and the working at height regulations? Our workshop is presently considering a harness system which would attach from the rail which houses the block and tackle. I consider this option to onerous with regards to training, maintenance and inspection etc. So if anyone is using something different i'd like to hear from you.

Posted By lewes Can you not work from a Tower Scaffold? What part of the roof do you need access to ?? A thread similar to this was started last week and should be somewhere on the first couple of pages.

Posted By Steve Granger Thanks Lewes Viewed the other thread and a few gems to investigate further. Most of the work is on the beacons or arials, also between the hopper and cab and along the hopper top for hydraulics. We have a fall arrest system but it is not ideal and I'd like some info from those that have portable gantries as we are in the market for one.

Posted By Steve Granger I guess a couple of times a week - sometimes for seconds - sometimes minutes etc. I know we need a gantry iaw wahr, just want to know who'se got one and any suggestions regarding design for these vehicles (sorry or hijacking the thread Stephen!) Steve

Posted By Christopher Kelly Hello Stephen, we had this issue in 2003 whilst I was working for a transport firm for our double-deck trailer. We considered using a harness system but decided it was unworkable due to the dimensions of the trailer roof. Finally decided that a gantry system was best, the only problem being that it had to be built outside as the double deck was too high for the workshop. It needs to be a fixed, robust system with drop-down work platforms which then won't get damaged during vehicle reversing. Permanent scaffold platform would be OK, as long as harnesses used for scaffold alteration once the vehicle has been reversed in. Trained CSCS scaffolders up to 6m, obviously no-one to be stood on the platform during vehicle movement. Personally didn't like the idea of scaffolding but as it is likely that the platform would get regularly damaged economics disallowed building a more permanent structure. Due to nature of risk scaffold inspection after each vehicle movement by competent person, etc, etc. Incidentally the guy I worked for refused to do anything and was prosecuted for a work @height accident afterwards but still doesn't have any form of protection ! HSE suggested using bean-bags initially but we decided it wasn't workable.

Posted By Richard Hinckley As a specialist Height Safety Support Services company we have succesfully tackled this specific issue on numerous occasions for local authorities & refuse collection contractors. We have developed over the years a number of very practical ways of handling this problem either by the installation of Height Safety equipment within a workshop environment or using a proprietary restraint system installed onto the Refuse Collection Vehicles. Both systems work very well, though of course the restraint system allows for safe access away from the workshop environment (which is very often required). We have also installed the bespoke restraint safety system onto the top of road tankers & static tanks. If anyone would like further information on this equipment please feel free to call me on 01785 850 333 or email me at richard@totalaccess.co.uk (apologies if the above looks like a sales pitch, but we have a very effective, practical, tested & approved solution to this issue which could obviously save a lot of people valuable time in re-inventing the wheel).