Posted By Scott d
Hi All,

We currently have 3 sites; all with low use, first floor Fork Lift loading bays.

One of our sites has a simple restraining harness and lanyard, which allows the operator to open the gates but they cannot get close enough to the edge, so that they can fall off.

We will be standardising this across all sites, however; I was wondering if this is standard practice within industry or do most places allow operators to effectively work without protection for the short period required to open or close an access gate?

Our bays get used maybe once per month, so the time taken to fit the harness is insignificant but I was interested to hear if those operating higher use loading bays would do the same.

Many Thanks,

Scott

Posted By Paul L Williams
Hi Scott,

What we did was fit a safety gate, which tilts backwards and always protects the edge this way the operator remains safe at all times when goods are loaded through the opening. The type of gate can be seen on the website below;

www.mezzbarriers.co.uk

The HSE have done a case study about barriers on mezzanine floors, which can be found at the link below;

http://www.dale-info.co....casestudies_barriers.pdf

Posted By Paul Leadbetter
Scott

Given the hierarchy of control, the safety gate is preferable to PPE but the latter may be necessary until safety gates can be installed.

Paul