The Australian Working at Height Association wants to see the increasing rates of height-related injuries and fatalities slashed.
According to data from the latest Safe Work Australia Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2024 report, falling from a height was the second-largest contributor to workplace fatalities in 2023, increasing 71 per cent on the previous year and 32 per cent on the five-year average.
Working at Height Association (WAHA) chief executive officer Scott Barber wants the issue tackled differently to truly see positive changes in these numbers.
“The increasing statistics have been stubbornly consistent,” Barber told Safe to Work. “We need to use all the resources we have at our disposal, including introducing innovation, technologies and learning development, to bring greater safety to every industry.
“If we want to see a change in these numbers, we need to change our approach.”
The WAHA was established in 2009 in response to demand for a peak body to provide information, guidance and support for businesses that need to address working at height issues.
Working at height come with an entirely different set of risks and considerations to keep people safe, which requires an industry presence with the tools to educate workers and operators alike.
The WAHA aims to represent those working at height while bringing industry together with safety professionals and experts who can speak with authority on height-related best practice and misconceptions across industries.
Even the nature of working at height, according to Barber, can be misunderstood.
“It’s not just working environments high up in the air,” he said. “A fall from height refers to falling from one level to another, which can also mean from ground-level down.
“It’s especially applicable to underground work where there’s any kind of void or where you’re working above a false environment.”
Barber spent years in the mining sector working with corporate and site safety and emergency response. He said falls are a pervasive threat encountered in the industry.
“The mining industry tends to address it really well in terms of applying those higher order controls, but when you’re doing shutdown maintenance and construction, the exposures are there,” he said. “You might be dealing with a contractor base where you don’t necessarily have a clear line of sight around their experience and competency, which opens up a whole new range of exposures.”
When it comes to increasing worker safety on site, Barber emphasised the most effective measures come from higher up in the controls, rather than better quality harnesses or administration.
“Understanding how the hierarchy of controls is applied is essential,” he said. “If we can actually look at where people are accessing and why, we can look at engineering out those risks in the initial design phase of new or upgrading projects, so people don’t have to go to those areas or, if they do, they are easily accessible.”
With artificial intelligence (AI) and hazard avoidance technologies becoming more advanced and accessible, keeping workers safe on mine sites digitally has never been more obtainable.
But as much as these technologies may be leading the industry towards a safer future, Barber said there are still considerations to be confronted.
“We’re looking at addressing those competency areas where we have gaps in knowledge,” he said. “Though training may be rigorous, there’s no guarantee the trainee is coming out with skills that are actually relevant to the work they’re going to be doing.
“That’s why the WAHA has developed a learning tool for operations and registered training organisations to ensure that what is being delivered in the theory and practical assessments is clearly understood and workers have confidence and genuine competency to operate safely in falls environments.”
Barber described the tool as putting trainees on a “personal learning pathway” to competency rather than a “generic learning journey”.
“Our aim is to have a workforce that is operating at a consistently high level, with a clear understanding of the risk and the systems in place to address it within a hierarchy of controls,” he said.
“The learning tool uses an AI-based algorithm that takes 20 points of data a minute to work with users to direct their learning by highlighting gaps in knowledge and addressing that directly. It’s the unconscious incompetency, where you think you know but you’re wrong, which is a key area of concern, and this is what the platform directly addresses.”
A workforce empowered to make better decisions ultimately leads to better outcomes, and the WAHA is determined to put as much knowledge in the hands of workers as possible.
“An empowered workforce also has the confidence to speak up if they see something that doesn’t look quite right,” Barber said. “They have the language, understanding of the fundamentals and the competence to question existing methodologies and even find a better way of doing the work.”
Ultimately, Barber said collaboration is key.
“I’ve got over 20 years of experience in this space, but I certainly don’t have all the answers,” he said. “Our work with different industry groups and trade associations is critical for us to understand where the gaps are so we can work with those industries to actually find and address issues.
“That helps us design and evolve education and campaign programs to effectively educate people and provide them with resources that they can take into the workplace.
“The latest statistics show there is something missing in our current approach, but we have an opportunity to work with individuals to empower them to make better decisions and make working from height safer for everyone and contribute to a more effective and engaging safety culture.”
This feature also appears in the November-December issue of Safe to Work.