Falls from height were the most common cause of fatalities in 2013

The purpose of Work at Height Regulations 2005 is to prevent death and injury from a fall from height. Work at height means work in any place where, if there were no precautions in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury. For example, a construction worker working on the bed of a 3.5t commercial vehicle loading building materials on and off the vehicle. The regulations apply to any employer or person that controls work at height.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recommend that we take a sensible approach when considering precautions for work at height. There may be some low-risk situations where common sense tells you no particular precautions are necessary and the law recognises this. However, before working at height. The regulations state that you must work through some simple steps. These steps include; where work at height cannot be avoided, falls must be prevented using either an existing place of work that is already safe or the right type of equipment. It is a requirement to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall, by using the right type of equipment where the risk cannot be eliminated and finally and most importantly, avoiding work at height where it is reasonably practicable to do so. This point is further discussed in the regulations where it states that one should 'do as much work as possible from the ground.'

Avoiding work at height where it is reasonably practicable to do so is where work equipment, such as mechanical handling devices can help. A simple and common task such as manually loading goods such as tooling or building materials on and off a pickup bed is classed as working from height and therefore should be avoided.

The use of a hydraulically powered crane enables this potentially unsafe task to be carried out in safety from ground level. Fixed proportional controls are installed on the vehicle in a position that enables the operator to adjust all functions of the crane whilst their feet are safely on the ground. Cranes have multiple hydraulic extensions and it is typical for all extensions to be hydraulically powered, again, this ensures that there is no unnecessary climbing onto the vehicle bed at height to manually extend crane booms to get goods into the required positon. Instead this can be done by precise and controlled hydraulic handling.

Where lifting equipment such as a crane is used to avoid unnecessary working from height it is vital that the crane be accompanied by an indication when the last thorough examination, in accordance with Lifting Operations & Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) has been carried out. LOLER requires that all equipment used for lifting is fit for purpose, appropriate for the task, suitably marked and, in many cases, subject to these statutory periodic 'thorough examinations'.

The onus is not solely on the employer or work controller. Employees have general legal duties to take reasonable care of themselves and others who may be affected by their actions, and to co-operate with their employer to enable their health and safety duties and requirements to be complied with.

For an employee, or those working under someone else’s control, the law says they must; report any safety hazard they identify to their employer, use the equipment and safety devices supplied or given to them properly, in accordance with any training and instructions.

Summarising, this means that if as an employer you supply mechanical handling equipment such as a hydraulic crane, then your employees are legally obliged to use this equipment when suitable to do so. Robin Penny, MD, Penny Hydraulics, comments: "The supply of mechanical handling equipment such as a hydraulic crane should help give employers peace of mind that they are fulfilling their duty of care to employees by putting steps in place to avoid accidents as a result of working from height and it's helpful to know that the law supports this by stating that employees must use the equipment."

The PH Maxilift Hydraulic Crane range from Penny Hydraulics is lightweight, user-friendly and innovative; the ideal solution for light commercial vehicles. The hydraulic crane range, suitable for pick-ups and trucks includes models between 0.5 and 5.1tm lifting capacity and offers a variety of optional extras and accessories including stabiliser legs, high speed hoists and radio remote controls.

Penny Hydraulics has its own purpose built premises housing its manufacturing and assembly plant and carries out all the functions of a fully integrated company with design, manufacturing, quality control, aftersales support and nationwide service operation. Penny Hydraulics also acts as a spare parts and service provider for the Maxilift range of cranes in the UK, carrying a full range of OEM Maxilift crane spares on stock.

The company is partnered with industry leading professional and trade organisations and are approved commercial vehicle converters for major vehicle manufacturers including Renault, Nissan and Volkswagen. In addition to this, commercial vehicle body builders worldwide from USA to Australia and Hungary to Benelux, choose to partner with Penny Hydraulics to sell lifting applications all over the world.