Rank: New forum user 
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Can anyone help me please? I am currently compiling Risk Assessments and Method Statements for a company which installs and maintains air-con units on coaches and other vehicles. The problem lies with access to the roof of the vehicles. Ladders are presently used as access (employees are trained for Working at Height and familiar with SSOW for ladders and stepladders etc.) but as the coach roofs are curved/arced, this presents a problem with egress from the ladder onto the roof and similarly with egress from the roof and back onto the ladder. As maintenance is not always undertaken at a fixed site/location, (engineers sometimes work at customer's site) it is not possible to always have the availability of a MEWP.
I would be grateful to hear from anyone with suggestions on how to improve the safety of this situation and especially from anybody who works with similar circumstances.
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Rank: Forum user
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You could always look at tower platforms as these can also be dismantled and reassembled on different sites
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Rank: Super forum user
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S W Ward wrote:Can anyone help me please? I am currently compiling Risk Assessments and Method Statements for a company which installs and maintains air-con units on coaches and other vehicles. The problem lies with access to the roof of the vehicles. Ladders are presently used as access (employees are trained for Working at Height and familiar with SSOW for ladders and stepladders etc.) but as the coach roofs are curved/arced, this presents a problem with egress from the ladder onto the roof and similarly with egress from the roof and back onto the ladder. As maintenance is not always undertaken at a fixed site/location, (engineers sometimes work at customer's site) it is not possible to always have the availability of a MEWP.
I would be grateful to hear from anyone with suggestions on how to improve the safety of this situation and especially from anybody who works with similar circumstances.
The main issue here is to PREVENT the fall. The operatives in questions, must gain acces and carry out works on top of the coaches, the air con units, where are these located (middle/ back etc). And are the coaches single or double deckers?
Have a look at this link: http://www.workingatheig..._buses_and_coaches.shtml (this would be more for your premises)
In the construction sector, unloading at height is a major issue, and there was a movable gantry designed to gain access. Therefore there was no risk of fall off the sides of the load.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I can only suggest mobile towers as well, although if these are not practicable for preventing a fall you may consider the use of air bags or something similar to cushion a potential fall from height. Working at the height of coach roofs would need a robust method of either preventing a fall, or reducing the impact to comply with W@H legislation IMO.
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Rank: Forum user
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Is there no way of safely getting the air-con units out of the vehicles and onto the ground to work on? Although causing other risks, it would eliminate the working at height problem.
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Rank: New forum user
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Thanks for your input everybody. The units have to be fitted in situ on top of the vehicles so working at height cannot be eliminated.
The engineers are mobile and do not have vans large enough for the scaffolding that would be required.
I am now looking into a fall arrest system attached to the ladder but I am still not sure this would be sufficient.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Surely the fall arrest system, presumably a harness with lanyard and karibiner, will only be effective if the ladder is properly anchored? Not sure how you would achieve this on transient sites.
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Rank: Super forum user
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S W Ward wrote:Thanks for your input everybody. The units have to be fitted in situ on top of the vehicles so working at height cannot be eliminated.
The engineers are mobile and do not have vans large enough for the scaffolding that would be required.
I am now looking into a fall arrest system attached to the ladder but I am still not sure this would be sufficient.
You do not want to go down arrest fall systems, as RayRapp said the ladders need to be secure (take the weight of man falling)....
You need restraint system, so that there is NO RISK OF A FALL, harness with restricted 1/2m lanyard would be better.
Today on route to work, I seen a lorry with a very simple but effective looking system. Picture a flat bed lorry, with a pole at the front and rear (at the middle of each end), with a span between both of them. SO I assume that this was their anchor point when loading/unloading. Perhaps this kind of thing could be used.
Have you ever heard of the Alsipercha System, kind of like a hangman frame, to which harness can be attached, you can get this system case into a concrete base, and can be movable. Check out Combisafe.
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Rank: Super forum user
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SW Ward,
Maybe this is an activity that should only be done at a fixed site location 'equipped' to facilitate work at height?
Ladder access and working from a coach roof doesn't sound good to me! How did your RA fair during evaluation for this?
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