WALKING CLOSE TO THE CLOUDS.

Picture shows a man inspecting a roof in Ibadan without PPE
Let me say that walking close to the clouds in this case refers to walking at height. Walking at height means walking at a vertical elevation greater than 1.2m from the ground.

At this height, any fall would result to at least a broken bone and often may lead to death if the victims land on their head. Spinal injuries are also associated with falls from heights greater than 1.2m.

This is why people walking at height should use fall protection equipment whenever they are performing any tasks at height or just taking a walk at height to assess roofs and platforms.

A typical fall protection equipment includes the following:

A hard hat

A body harness

A lanyard

Safety shoes with good grip soles

A lifeline system

An anchorage point

A scaffold system.

At a minimum, a hard hat, a pair of safety shoes, a body harness, a lanyard, and an anchorage point must be used to ensure that workers are protected at height.

Also, if the height is just about 1.2m, a scaffold system may be erected.

Next time you observe people working at height without the appropriate fall protection equipment, please confront them, you may save a life by doing this.

For more details on how to protect yourself and loved ones against fall from height related accidents, the kind folks at +National Association of Home Builders, +OHSA - Occupational Health Services Australia, +ANSI - American National Standards Institute, +Fallprotection4you, and +Fall Protech Consulting Ltd. may be willing to answer your questions.

Respectfully yours,

Onwuka Chukwuemeka,

Health Safety & Environment,

Eaglesgambit |  Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria  |  +234 70 433 19 172  |  +234 80 570 44 512

… even on our worse nights, the sun eventually rises.