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Fall Protection Plan: Guideline to content

A Fall Protection Plan defined: Means a documented plan, of all risks relating to working from an elevated position, considering the nature of work undertaken, and setting out the procedures and methods to be applied in order to eliminate the risk;

Introduction – here the purpose and scope of the Fall Protection plan is set out and an undertaking that the company will follow the content as stipulated in this plan.

Reference Documents – the foundation of this document is based on certain requirements. Legal & other documents are referenced under this section.

Definitions – terms and definitions that are going to be used in this plan which may not be understood by all involved will be explained in this section.Responsibilities – all the relevant appointed employees will have certain roles & responsibilities to fulfil. These will be identified and explained her.

Legal Requirement – an explanation of what the law requires i.t.o. fall protection. This will then include the Construction regulations and specifically section 7.Risk Assessment – A risk assessment of any work to be done at elevated positions and the control measures taken to prevent incidents should be included. This assessment is to include a monitoring and review plan of the identified risks.

Employees fitness to work at elevated positions - The Physical and Psychological fitness of employees and contractors working in elevated positions is to be verified in accordance with the requirements of the legislation.

Record keeping of the above testing - All records of medical and / or psychological testing shall be kept by the Doctor conducting such testing, and a copy of the notification from the doctor declaring the personnel fit to work at heights shall be kept on site.

Programme for Training – A training needs analysis and a programme for training already attended and still to be done should be included.Testing and Maintenance – proof (documentation and records) of regular inspection and auditing should be kept and maintained.

On site updates version of the Fall Protection Plan – A copy of this plan must be available at ALL times on site and at operations – it is normally kept with the construction supervisor and/or with the client.

The Standard – your own requirements for daily operation of working at elevated positions is to be included here.Roof work requirements – an explanation of operation (roadmap) when working on roofs.

A Fall Protection Plan is also based on a risk assessment. Risk assessments must be the cornerstone of all the “plan” requirements under the construction regulations (fall protection plan, health & safety plan and even the health & safety specifications). To compile any of these “plans” you need to start with a risk assessment of the specific issue at hand. Monitoring and reviewing plans are now a requirement as part of these “plans”. This emphasizes the importance of the individual who does the risk assessments. If this individual is adequately qualified and has the correct experience and knowledge of the operation – the “plans” will be effective. The norm in industry is that a risk assessment is customized according to the needs of the client. The contractor therefore needs to obtain the methodology of the clients’ risk assessments and ensure they become familiar with the format. It would be to the contractors’ benefit if they can organize to send their representative on the clients’ risk assessment course – this would ensure that everyone is using the same format and implementing it at the same standard. When compiling the risk assessments a team needs to form part of the process: operator, foreman, engineer – as a minimum. A risk assessment is not put together by one individual and the operator is the most important person in this whole process.

When the foundation i.t.o. the risk assessment has been laid down, the fall protection plan according to the above guidelines needs to be developed.