Posted By Adele Tidball Hello, I work in an office and people like to decorate the ceiling when it is a special occasion such as Birthdays, Leaving Do, Easter, Xmas etc. When I first started this role employees stood on desks and hung decorations, I have since requested that this no longer happens. However I am now in a situation where stepladders are being requested and due to the Working at Height Regulations I am very reluctant to condone this(although it does happen). Are there any other H & S officers that have a similar situation in their office? Has anyone found an alternative to decorate desks without the use of hanging anything from the ceiling. I do not want to appear a grouch and the reason they are doing this is to improve staff morale for team incentives. Any assistance with this would be appreciated. Adele

Posted By Jonathan Breeze My gut feeling is that ladders are acceptable in this sort of circumstance. The whole point of the Regs was not to ban working from ladders, but rather to force users to consider if ladders were the most appropriate means of safe working at height. However, it does depend on whether your employer sees decorationg the area above a desk space of a leaving employee as part of the job description - which is another issue altogether...

Posted By J Knight Hi Jonathon, Stepladders might be OK, but it would depend on how much stretching and reaching is involved which is why I'm not sure. But in any event, banning office bunting might be seen as serious elf'n'safety. One thing I've realised we don't know is - how high are the ceilings? Some of our offices are in stately homes and the ceilings are a good 6-7 metres, which would make ladders decidedly dodgy. Still wouldn't ban it though, John

Posted By J Knight Hi Jonathon, The number of times I've seen three metre high shelves in places where the only 'access equipment' is a swivel chair. I do wonder how all the stuff gets up there...:-) John

Posted By Jonathan Breeze In our place they all know that climbing on swivel chairs is not safe, I've drummed that one in to them (staff induction - example of misuse of equipment). So they'd probably just climb the shelving instead! 8-l

Posted By Jonathan Breeze It really does depend on staff competence. If you are satisfied a particular staff member is competent to do the task, then fine. If not get somone else to do it. Johns suggestion is a practical way of doing this. Some staff have no problems and are safe workers, others I would have grave doubts about leaving alone with a packet of crayons.

Posted By Ron Young Do you have a Facilities team or caretakers to do the work for you? If not it has to be down to correct use of safe ladders.

Posted By Bob Thompson CMIOSH I find that a tall worker with a bit of blue tac on the end of a ruler ususally reaches most ceilings. Presumably you are not hanging chandelieres? no spell check. Another consideration is the interface with alarm systems you need to check that anything hung does not interfere with them. Regards Bob

Posted By Jeffrey Watt I'm with Bob Thompson CMIOSH on this one. Perfect exemplar of the WAHR eliminate the need to W@H, as long as the ruler is long enough to prevent poor posture by arms above shoulder. You could turn this into a training session, most inventive way to erect decos without leaving the floor Hmm wheres my ballista. Jeff

Posted By Merv Newman A couple of points : (change that to "a few") "decorating the office" may not be in the job description but if it is "normal and long-standing practice" then it might just as well be. Next, if properly used then step ladders are ok. Though I like the ruler and blue tack methodology. Then, why not just decorate the walls and recipient's desk ? Finally, I have a recent photo (can't offer it, camera was on high definition as part of prep for training programme, 2.5 Mb) of a man standing on the top "step" of a step ladder. High circulation area, no warnings or barrier. Last thought : how much booze is consumed on these occasions ? At my last leaving party I had to pay for the "free" bar ! Normal and long-standing practice. Mild nostalgic expletive deleted Greying wolf Hey ho. back to the underwear. MD has lots of posters advertising the products in his office and board conference room. And, nobless oblige, I have to go to a review of next season's prototypes this afternoon. Thursday its the cattle cake and pig swill (sovesso) plant. Who'd want to be a consultant.