Heightened awareness: the Working at Height Regulations required a shift in thinking for some. Kevin Peart explains how they impacted on the Lloyd's of London Building.(security measures of people working at height)

Publication: The Safety & Health Practitioner

Publication Date: 01-MAR-06

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COPYRIGHT 2006 CMP Information Ltd.

THE LLOYD'S BUILDING, ONE LIME STREET, EC3M in the heart of the City of London was designed by Sir Richard Rogers and built between 1979 and 1984. It is home to Lloyd's of London, the world's leading insurance market providing specialist insurance services to businesses in over 200 countries and territories. This prestigious building's facilities services are provided by ISS/Coflex which appointed MacLellan International to deliver cleaning and other services.

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The nature of the Lloyd's Building gives rise to a number of health and safety challenges, particularly for working at height. At the time this building was designed and constructed, it was a fantastic design concept but as all engineers are aware stainless steel is not maintenance free and the Lloyds building is built from predominantly stainless steel on the outside. The building design is very complex and certain areas of the building are very difficult to access to clean off general grime and guano. Since completion of construction the original access equipment designed for cleaning has had several man safe systems added to permit the safe access by industrial rope access technicians (abseilers) to clean the structure. General building and window cleaning is carried out from permanently installed access equipment (cradles) that access most areas.

The law in force

The Working at Height Regulations (WAHR) came into effect in April 2005. Introduced in response to the European Temporary Working at Height Directive, WAHR is the result of a general move across European Union member states to improve the health and safety of employees at work.

The primary objective of the new legislation is to eliminate work at height where possible, and where it is not possible to ensure that all work at height is performed...

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