We are an office fit out company that is occasionally required to install mezzanine floors. We always sub-contract this work out. However we have recently parted company with our usual mezzanine partner for continually working without adequate protection from falls from height. We are now looking for a new partner but are finding that a good number of installers do not install any edge protection at the leading edge during the boarding out once the mezzanine frame is in place. They often install edge protection around the perimeter of the mez but not at the leading edge and seem to be saying that this is acceptable, which I find hard to believe. Does anyone have knowledge of this sphere of work who could advice me what industry best practice might be ? I'm not comfortable allowing this work on my site without some form of protection Any help gratefully received Andy

I would stick to your guns on this one, if the lack of edge protection results in a serious accident and subsequent enforcement action, then I can see trouble for both the subcontractor and you the PC for failure to protect employees etc. Enforcement action would also be likely if one of your jobs received an unannounced visit by the enforcement officers regardless of injury occurring.

Hi Andy Mezzanine construction is not dissimilar to roof construction in my view. Drawing on 'Safety in Roofwork' guidance I would first consider the gap between the floor support members (the guidance states 400mm is ok for roof tiling but I would say 300mm in this situation). Any gap greater than this and you must have some form of fall protection. The favored method in roof situations is nets and would say this would also be ideal for mezzanines but you need to make sure there is sufficient distance between the mezzanine and the floor underneath to accommodate the net stretch if someone falls. Perimeter protection is a must and can be achieved with scaffold tubing attached to the steelwork with purpose girder clips. Hope this helps. Martin

Agree with MJD - nets, or perhaps preferably, airbags. Restraint probably impractical due to the constant movement of the leading edge and the mezzanine typically too low for fall-arrest.

Thank you all for your responses. I was not unaware of the W at H Regs and what SHOULD be expected but it just seems that whoever we ask to do this work is not prepared to put the required precautions in place. The last time we had issues was when the steel fabricator sub-contracted out the installation work on a fixed price basis without telling us - meaning speed was of the essence for the installers and no precautions were put in place When I contacted the fabricator he suggested that...." if I had wanted safety I should have mentioned it earlier as it was not included in his quote...." Hmmmm ! The search for a decent contractor continues. Thanks again