Construction industry body launches ‘Safety Steps’; a go-to guide for those working at height

The Construction Industry Advisory Council (CONIAC) has launched a new campaign to ensure that those working in the sector are taking their safety seriously when at height. The new campaign is spearheaded by the guide ‘Safety Steps’.  

‘Safety Steps’ has been designed to target five key work at height audiences: designers, clients, managers, supervisors and operatives. It offers key training materials, as well as simple rules and guidelines that those working at height should follow to maintain their safety.  

The guide was produced by CONIAC’s ‘Managing Risk Well’ group, but hasn’t been designed to be used directly by those working at height. Instead it’s been launched to help inform supervisors who may want to use the information found within ‘Safety Steps’ to produce other materials, such as: 

• Training materials
• Flow charts/infographics
• Toolbox talks/checklists
• Poster/sticker campaigns
• Social media campaigns
• Rules and guidelines
• Articles 

Paul Reeve CFIOSH, chair of the sub-group that produced ‘Safety Steps’, commented, “‘Safety Steps’ provides the essential safety messages for the five key groups involved in work at height in construction and maintenance. It’s designed as an ‘enabling’ guide – meaning it can help anyone to produce, or just check, virtually any type of output that’s looking to support safe work at height

“‘Safety Steps’ covers general, rather than task-specific, messages (e.g. using scaffolding, mobile work platforms or working on roofs). However, its essential messages underpin any type of work at height activity.

“A key aim of the document is to help do away with continually redefining or looking for the essential messages for ensuring safe work at height. ‘Safety Steps’ provides the key messages in one place, making it a valuable, long-term reference point for industry.”

Peter Bennett OBE, chair of the AIF, added, “‘Safety Steps clearly explains - for everyone involved in the stakeholder chain - what they need to know about safe working at height, all in one easy to access, easy to use resource. We are pleased to host Safety Steps on the AIF website and we believe it could become a long-term ‘go to’ resource for the industry.”

Sarah Jardine, acting head of Construction Division, HSE, concluded, “I am grateful to the CONIAC Managing Risk Well Group and in particular the Work at Height sub-group, for developing the Safety Steps guide. This is an excellent example of the construction industry and HSE working together.”

Safety Steps is free to access and use, and it is hosted at: accessindustryforum.org.uk/safety-steps