Whether it’s climbing a ladder, working while balancing yourself on a scaffold, or tending to a rooftop, experienced workers often assume that common sense can keep them safe.
However, working at heights is one of the leading causes of workplace death and injury in Australia.
If you’re wondering why common sense is inadequate and professional training is the ultimate solution, keep reading.
Why Common Sense Has Limited Power
1. Unknown Hazards
Working at heights has several hazards, and most of them are not obvious. For instance, a surface that looks strong may collapse from a little movement. A harness without any visible damage might tear once you fall and suspend.
Common sense alone doesn’t help identify these safety risks. On the other hand, training offers professional guidance for these inspections.
2. Dependence on Familiarity
If you’ve been working at heights for years without training, you feel a sense of confidence and superiority. You think, “I’ve always done this. What can even go wrong?”
This familiarity and habit make you more vulnerable to hazards, such as sudden weather extremes, health concerns, or unstable surfaces.
3. Risk-Taking Behaviours
If you have faced a lot of risks on the job and were unscathed, chances are you feel invincible and are highly likely to take risks. You may avoid wearing a harness, lean away from ladders, or work without guardrails to show off your confidence in your instincts.
Again, this increases the chances of meeting uncalled-for hazards, impacting both your and others’ safety.
How Proper Training Helps
1. Hazard Identification
Professional training helps you identify risks and their severity. So, you won’t have to rely on just the fact that something “looks safe.”
Instead, a working at heights course from a reliable institute teaches you to assess the real issues, such as whether the surface has an extreme slope or is fragile, the exact fall distances and clearances, or if weather can impact your footing at a height.
You can also identify unsafe scaffolding systems and zones where falling objects can impact you or others.
The detailed risk assessment ensures you never overlook potential hazards when completing a task.
2. Effective Equipment Usage
Working at a height involves multiple tools, such as harnesses, anchor points, lanyards, and elevated working platforms. However, you can implement them wisely only if you know about their proper usage.
A professional training will guide you about the best practices to adjust and fit harnesses according to the body to ensure utmost safety, inspection guidelines of PPE, signs of wear and tear on PPE, the right process of attaching lifelines and anchor points, and the right situations to implement fall prevention and fall arrest systems.
This knowledge will help you rely more than just on common sense, ensuring you stay protected in every scenario.
3. Preparation for Emergency
At heights, accidents can lead to severe aftereffects. For instance, wearing a harness is never enough. If team members don’t take quick action and you’re left hanging after a fall, you’ll experience suspension trauma.
Proper training ensures your team is always equipped with quick rescue plans and follows response protocols. A well-trained supervisor also helps the team practice regularly through emergency drills, including using rescue kits and effective communication with emergency services.
If the workers aren’t trained, panic will soon settle in, leading to further injury or loss.
4. Safety-First Culture Development
Without training, workers are more likely to take risks either to show off their skills or just to be playful. However, proper training shapes their mindset and the overall work culture.
You understand that if you aren’t disciplined, you don’t just put yourself at risk but also influence others to do the same. Training ensures nobody in the team tries risky shortcuts. Instead, everyone reports hazards, looks out for each other, and ensures team safety. Even if anyone insists, refuse to work in an unsafe environment.
5. Legal Compliance
According to workplace health and safety laws outlined in Safe Work Australia and other state regulators, all employers in Australia must hire only competent staff to work at heights. They must also upgrade their training as frequently as required.
If an employer fails to train their workforce, they will be more vulnerable to legal penalties. This can result in hefty fines, damaged reputation, and even suspension of the company.
Proper training of all employees and the employer shows that everyone in the team is aware of their responsibilities and is well-equipped to ensure their own and others’ safety. It shows regulatory bodies that the company complies with industry regulations.
Final Thoughts
Common sense is valued in every field, but it’s never enough. So, prioritise professional training from a renowned institute, upskill yourself, and ensure a safe work environment.