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Posted By Rosalind Davis
I work for a local authority and we have a rather aging vehicle workshop with vehicle pits which are located below floor height (accessed down ladders to work under the vehicles). We are trying to resource a solution to protection from open pits to prevent falls from height. All avenues explored to date include 'boarding' and 'netting' but these are not suitable options either due to the pit design or the manual handling / suitability issues.
Can anyone who may have experience this problem help with any other solutions? Your help is appreciated.
Thanks.
Roz Davis
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Posted By Ian_P
Hi Roz,
We too have the same problem. Working for a large (swedish!) truck company we have numerous open pits accross most of our depots.
The problems with netting / boarding etc. is that by the time you have covered the pit, another vehicle is ready to use it!
The HSE's guidance HSG 67 accepts (unlike some HSE inspectors!) that pits are necessary & practical and gives the following guidance:
"Fence or board pits when not
in use. Keep the time they are left uncovered with no vehicle over them
to a minimum - during such times use pit lighting and mark pit edges to
indicate the hazard. Restrict access to areas where pits may be
unfenced."
i.e. it is o.k., and ultimately neceessary, to leave pits exposed for a short duration. Where they are exposed for longer periods, you could use fencing or barrier systems.
There is an american company that produces a lightweght, retractable netting for pits which may be the answer. This is currently unavailable in the UK but I'm sure with more requests & demand for it they will find a UK supplier. E-mail me and I will give you their contacts.
Hope this helps.
Ian
P.S. To make pits more visible (Besides the usual signage, delineation tc.) white wash the walls of them regularly. This also makes visibilty of working inside the pits easier.
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Rank: Guest
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Posted By DRB
I used to work in the bus industry and open pits were a continious problem. We tried all sorts of options and went for netting in th end as it was the easiest to use and relatively safe. It was a compromise but then so much of H&S is just that.
I am aware than powered steel covers can be used. These slowly cover the length of the pit by the pressing of a button. However unless you are going to replace the pit with a new one they will be prohibitively expensive.
The other option is to fill in the pit and use vehicle lifts. This allows the vehicles to be lifted to the height that best suits the user (we had short engineers standing on milk crates when working in the pits!. It also allows for engineers to be more visible than when working in a pit
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